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What Parents Need to Know about 'Sexting'
Friday April 8, 2011
by Daniel Weiss
In 2008, a Cincinnati teen named Jessica Logan sent a sexually explicit photo to her boyfriend via her cellphone. After they broke up, he passed that photo to others around the school. Jessica was taunted and harassed to the point where she began skipping school. She even went on a local television station to talk about what had happened to her and to help other teens make a better choice. Sadly, she never escaped the embarrassment and hanged herself just two months after the interview.
While Jessica’s story is the most extreme case highlighting the dangers of what has been called “sexting,” millions of youth today are putting themselves in potentially embarrassing, dangerous and even criminal situations through careless cellphone use involving sexually explicit text messages.
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What is “sexting”?
“Sexting” is a word created by the media to describe a complex social behavior that could involve sending, receiving or forwarding sexually explicit messages or pictures. The term is not favored among child advocates, because it lumps minor indiscretions together with predatory and illegal activity. This tends to confuse people as to the real dangers involved and can make finding solutions difficult. Many times, the research does not distinguish between sexual messages and nude photos, the latter of which may constitute child pornography. For the sake of brevity and because of widespread usage, and with the qualifications above, we will use the word “sexting.”
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Who is “sexting”?
Several studies have examined the recent phenomenon of “sexting.” Their results vary due to 1) slightly different age ranges included in their polling samples and 2) some studies combining cellphone use with similar actions like online posting and email use. Results from the three main “sexting” studies are included below for comparison.
Teens and Sexting by the Pew Internet & American Life Project had the lowest “sexting” estimates. They found that among all 12-to-17-year olds:1
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4% have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves via text
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15% have received sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images via text
Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey, in Partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC), found that about 1 in 5 teens ages 13-18 have engaged in some kind of “sexting”: either sending, receiving or forwarding sexually suggestive emails or text messages with a nude or nearly nude photo.
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9% – sent a “sext”
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17% – received a “sext”
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3% – forwarded a “sext” 2
Sex Tech by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com found that:
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20% of teens (13-19) say they have sent or posted nude or seminude pictures or video of themselves (cellphone or online), including:
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22% of teen girls
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18% of teen boys
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11% of young teen girls (ages 13-16)
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39% of all teens are sending or posting sexually suggestive messages, including:
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37% of teen girls
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40% of teen boys
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48% of teens say they have received such messages3
Older youth more likely to “sext”
Both the Pew and Cox surveys found that older teens were more likely to send and receive sexually graphic text messages than younger teens.
Pew found that:
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8% of 17-year-olds with cell phones have sent a sexually provocative image
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30% of 17-year-olds have received a nude or nearly nude image on their phone4
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Older teens (14-17) are also more likely than younger teens to report receiving such images or videos:
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18% of older teens have received an image versus 6% of teens ages 12-13 5
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4% of 12-year-olds received images or videos
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20% of 16-year-olds received such content
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30% of 17-year-olds received images or videos6
Cox broke down “sexters” by age and found that 61% were ages 16-18 and 39% ages 13-15. 7
Girls are more likely to send explicit pictures
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Sext senders are more likely to be girls (65%). 8
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Boys are more likely to report receiving a naked photo or video of someone else that has been passed around – 14% vs. 9% of girls. 9
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12% of teen girls who have “sexted” said they felt pressured to do so. 10
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Why are youth “sexting”?
“Sexting “is most often an extension of the dating relationship
While the majority of youth do not engage in the sending and receiving of sexually explicit photos, those who do so tend to confine their actions to an existing dating relationship or with the hope of starting a new one.
Pew researchers found three main scenarios for sexting:11
1) exchange of images solely between two romantic partners
2) exchanges between partners that are shared with others
3) exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where at least one person hopes to be
Sex Tech gave percentages for some of these scenarios:
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71% of teen girls and 67% of teen guys who have sent or posted sexually suggestive content say they have sent/posted this content to a boyfriend/girlfriend. 12
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21% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys say they have sent such content to someone they wanted to date or hook up with.13
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However, 15% of teens who have sent or posted nude/seminude images of themselves say they have done so to someone they only knew online.14
Youth who send “sext” messages think it is flirty or fun
Sex Tech reports that among teens who have sent sexually suggestive content:
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66% of teen girls and 60% of teen boys say they did so to be “fun or flirtatious”— their most common reason for sending sexy content.
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52% of teen girls did so as a “sexy present” for their boyfriend.
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44% of both teen girls and teen boys say they sent sexually suggestive messages or images in response to such content they received.
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40% of teen girls said they sent sexually suggestive messages or images as “a joke.”
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34% of teen girls say they sent/posted sexually suggestive content to “feel sexy.”
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12% of teen girls felt “pressured” to send sexually suggestive messages or images.15
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Other factors associated with “sexting”
Cellphone love
Teens who send and receive sexual text messages are likely to be those whose phones are more central to their lives than less intense cell phone users. Pew researchers found the following factors associated with higher rates of “sexting:”16
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Teens with unlimited text messaging plans – which accounts for 75% of teens with cellphones – are more likely to report receiving sexually suggestive texts. Eighteen percent of teens with unlimited plans received sexual texts, compared to 8 percent of those with limited plans and 4 percent of those who pay per message.
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Teens who receive sexually suggestive images on their cellphones are more likely to say that they use the phone to entertain themselves when bored (80% of “sexting” recipients vs. 67% who have not received “sexts”).
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Teens who have received these images are less likely to turn off their phones when it is not otherwise required (68% of receiving teens vs. 46% who have not received suggestive text report the same “always on” behavior).
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Teens who pay their own phone bills are more likely to send “sexts”:
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17% of teens who pay for all of the costs associated with their cellphones send sexually suggestive images via text
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3% of teens who do not pay for, or only pay for a portion of the cost of the cellphone send these images
Sexual activity
MTV also studied “sexting” among teens and young adults (ages 14-24) and found that sexual activity correlated with higher rates of “sexting” behavior. This corresponds with other research showing that a majority of “sexting” occurs within a dating relationship.
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Sexually active young people are twice as likely to have shared naked photos of themselves – 17 percent vs. 8 percent of young people who are not having sex.
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45 percent of young people who report having had sex in the past 7 days also report at least one “sexting” related activity.17
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See also:
The New Social Lifeline: Cellphones and Youth
Tips for Talking about 'Sexting' with your Child
Cellphone Usage Contract
Daniel Weiss is ROCK's director of research and national outreach.
Endnotes
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1 Amanda Lenhart, Teens and Sexting, Pew Internet & American Life Project, December 15, 2009 http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/PIP_Teens_and_Sexting.pdf
2 “Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey, in Partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and John Walsh,” May 2009, http://www.cox.com/takecharge/safe_teens_2009/media/2009_teen_survey_internet_and_wireless_safety.pdf
3 “Sex Tech,” The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008, http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/sextech/PDF/SexTech_Summary.pdf
4 Lenhart, “Teens and Sexting,” 2009.
5 Lenhart, “Teens and Sexting,” 2009.
6 Lenhart, “Teens and Sexting,” 2009.
7 “Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey,” May 2009.
8 “Cox Communications Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey,” May 2009.
9 “A Thin Line: 2009 MTV-AP Digital Abuse Study” MTV.com, http://www.athinline.org/MTV-AP_Digital_Abuse_Study_Executive_Summary.pdf
10 “Sex Tech,” 2008.
11 Lenhart, “Teens and Sexting,” 2009.
12 “Sex Tech,” 2008.
13 “Sex Tech,” 2008.
14 “Sex Tech,” 2008.
15 “Sex Tech,” 2008.
16 Lenhart, “Teens and Sexting,” 2009.
17 “A Thin Line: 2009 MTV-AP Digital Abuse Study,” MTV.com.
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