You’ve seen them – teens who pass their fingertips quickly over the buttons on their cell phones like butterflies dancing over Black-Eyed Susans. You’ve heard of sexting – teens sending sexual messages and photos and then suffering from their impulsive behavior in regretful, emotional and dangerous ways. You may have even warned them, but does what they send over the the airwaves really reflect their sexual behaviors? According to a recent survey, the answer is yes.
Eric Rice, a researcher from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, revealed in the journal Pediatrics that one out of every seven Los Angeles teens who were surveyed has sent a sexually explicit text message or photo, and that those who had sent the explicit material were seven times more likely to be sexually active than non-”sexters.”
Perhaps even more alarming is that his research found that girls in particular who’d sent naked photos were more likely to engage in risky sex, to have had multiple recent sex partners or to use alcohol and drugs before sex.
What’s the take-home message here? Parents, teachers, peers, EVERYONE needs to pay attention, continually talk about the dangers of sexting and, above all, we need to talk about sexuality (age-appropriately) BEFORE children are allowed to have cell phones. We need to keep the lines of communication open, honest and timely. We need to avoid “the big talk” and, instead, have many little talks throughout their childhood and adolescence. We need to teach responsibility and consequences. We need to teach our young people that how they feel is normal and that there are ways to express themselves in ways that are safer than sending nude pictures into “never never land.”
You also might find these posts interesting:
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The linked article never mentions whether the study demonstrated a correlation or causal relationship between sexting and sex. My money would definitely be on a correlation.
Furthermore, there aren’t dangers in Sexting- the dangers come from having unprotected sex with multiple partners in a short period of time without being adequately tested. Or from having sex while inebriated, which removes consent from the conversation. Sexting might be a good indicator for a higher chance of risky behavior, but the act itself isn’t risky.
Also, it is important to distinguish the topics of sexting and sending nude images. They are two different things with entirely different connotations.
Additionally, the study’s demographics are sort of questionable when it comes to expounding on the implications of the results, as they surveyed primarily latino groups. The article also never mentioned whether or not they adjusted for socioeconomic conditions, which may be a salient factor in determining teen behavior (potentially one with a stronger causal relationship than the study investigated).
Bleau,
I agree on your points and I also think it was a correlational relationship vs. causal. The survey’s demographics certainly don’t represent all teens and that was one of its limitations. When I, personally, think of the ‘dangers of sexting,’ I don’t think about the high risk sexual behavior-sexting correlation. I think about the stories in the news about students who send nude pictures or explicit texts and then suffer serious emotional, social, and sometimes physical fallout. I think the general public is in the habit (myself included) of lumping all sexual content sent by phone as ‘sexting’ and your distinction is a valid one. Again, they didn’t adjust for socioeconomic conditions because this was a survey, not a study. If it were a study, we could poke holes in its science all day long. The take home message no matter the science remains the same.