The practice of sexting among adolescents has increased greatly increased over the past ten years, posing a growing challenge for parents and teachers, a new study reports.
One in four teens and older children have admitted to receiving sexts, and one in seven reported sending them, the study stated. The data came from 39 research works conducted from January 1990 and June 2016, with a total of 110,380 participants under the age of 18, CNN reports.
Focusing on data sent since 2008, the researchers found a rise in sexting incidences among the youth. These included sending or receiving sexually explicit photos or messages, which has coincided with the boom in cellphone and internet access.
The study authors suggest that “age specific information on sexting and its potential consequences should regularly be provided as a component of sex education.”
Young people engage in sexting largely as a way to explore their attraction to others, the researchers found. Jeff Temple, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch and study co-author, said, “As teens get older, we are going to see increasing numbers…who sext. Just as we see with actual sexual behavior.” He added,
It’s not terribly surprising considering as teens age, their interest in sexuality is heightened. They are trying to figure out who they are.
The lack of awareness of the risks involved in this practice is a cause for concern, especially when it involves younger teens and children, the study said. Preteens are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of sexting, which include “sextortion,” or blackmail and threats using photos or videos.
Temple said, “As tweens and kid smartphone ownership gets younger and younger, we are going to see an increase in the number of teens who are sexting.”
There is also the notion that videos and images shared on messaging apps are stored privately, which is not the case. Sheri Madigan, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary, co-author on the study, said, “Teens can sometimes assume safety or security is embedded in these apps when it’s not.”
Madigan added, “Kids don’t really have a clear understanding of cause and effect. When they send a picture, they may not recognize they cant get it back or that it is really up to the recipient to decide how they are going to treat that picture.”
There is very little information on the subject of tweens and sexting, Madigan added, who suggests that more research is necessary to further understand this growing trend.
The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
