And if you think the only
teens who sext are the ones engaging in high-risk behaviors, like
drinking, using drugs or skipping school, keep reading.
Two recent studies suggest that sexting is more common than many parents might realize or want to admit.
More than half the
undergraduate students who took part in an anonymous online survey said
they sexted when they were teenagers, according to the study by Drexel University, which was published in June by the Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy.
Nearly 30% said they
included photos in their sexts, and an astonishing 61% did not know that
sending nude photos via text could be considered child pornography.
Another study, this one
by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, found that while
students who admitted sexting were 32% more likely to report having sex
the next year, sexting by teenagers was not linked to risky sexual
behavior over time.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics
in October, found that teens who sexted were not more likely to have
multiple sexual partners, use drugs or alcohol before sex or not use
birth control.
Sexting may be the new "normal' when it comes to adolescent sexual behavior, the study concluded.
"There are now a few
pieces of research, which are sort of converging on the same finding,
namely that this is not a rare behavior," said Elizabeth Englander, a professor of psychology at Bridgewater State University and director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center.
"I'm not saying that
it's healthy or that it's harmless, but it's not a situation where kids
who are depressed are doing this or kids who have very bad self-esteem
are doing it," said Englander, who researched sexting, as well as a host
of other teenager behaviors, for her recent book "Bullying and Cyberbullying."
"It appears to be
widespread. It's engaged in by many kids who are functioning well and
not having problems and it's not very unusual or rare."
Diana Graber, who
teaches "cybercivics" to middle schoolers in Aliso Viejo, California,
was blown away by the response she got recently from eighth graders when
she, for the first time, included a session on sexting.
When she asked her
students if they knew what a sext was, everyone in the class said they
did, but what they didn't know was what the penalties for sending a sext
could be, including how it could be prosecuted as a felony under child
pornography laws in some states.
"They had no idea what the consequences were," said Graber, co-founder of CyberWise.org, a
digital literacy site for parents, educators, and tweens and teens. "I
mean that was a complete surprise to literally all 28 kids, so it
occurred to me that no one's ever bothered to tell these kids they
couldn't do that."
Graber said she
experienced another first that day. A few students wanted to hang around
after the class, which is held at the end of the school day, to talk
more about sexting and related things.
"That's never happened
to me before with this class ... and I realized that I had created a
safe space for them to talk about something that was super relevant to
their lives."
CNN's Kelly Wallace talked to experts and parents about how widespread sexting by teens is today.
She now plans to make it
part of her "cybercivics" curriculum, and believes parents and
educators need to be talking to kids at even younger ages about sexting.
It should be part of sex education, she said.
"We know that throwing the book at them, it's too much too late, so that's not working," said Graber, who offers tips for parents on how to help children have safe online relationships.
"It's very normal
teenage behavior ... and we need to get with the times and get ahead of
the problem, and just have these very easy to have discussions."
Englander, the
psychology professor and researcher, says in her experience, it's not
that adults aren't warning teens about the criminal consequences for
underage sexting or how devastating it could be to a teen if their nude
photo became public.
The problem, she says, is kids don't hear the warnings because the reality doesn't fit them.
In a recent online article,
she used an example of telling someone to use a seat belt because half
the car rides in the country result in someone going through the
windshield. Since half of car rides don't result in someone going
through the windshield, a person might not listen to that warning, she
says.
"If you want to convince
somebody that something is a danger, you have to convince them that you
know what you're talking about, " said Englander. "So you can't say to
kids 'Oh, you are going to go to jail if you sext.' It's not 100%
impossible but even in the early cases of sexting, when (law
enforcement) did prosecute kids, they didn't go to jail."
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