New research suggests that teenage texting of nude photos not so popular

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 6 2011

New research suggests that teenage texting of nude photos online or via cell phone, commonly known as sexting may be far less popular than feared.

Only 1 percent of kids aged 10 to 17 have shared images of themselves or others that involve explicit nudity, a nationally representative study found. Roughly the same number said they'd shared suggestive but less graphic photos; while 7 percent said they'd received either type of picture.

The study looked at teenagers alone and not young adults, an age group included in some earlier studies which showed considerably higher sexting participation. The new study suggests texting of sexual photos among younger kids is rare. This is reassuring said lead author Kimberly Mitchell, a research assistant psychology professor at the University of New Hampshire. Earlier reports had said that as many as 1 in 5 young people, or 20 percent, have participated in sexting. But some surveys included older teens and people in their early 20s. And some used definitions of sexting that included racy text messages without photos, or images “no more revealing than what someone might see at a beach,” authors of the new study said.

An online survey by the Associated Press-MTV in August found that 7 percent of teens between 14 and 17 said they had sent a naked photo of themselves. The latest study focused only on pictures, and asked more detailed questions about the kinds of racy photos kids are sharing. Additionally the researchers looked at how police deal with teen sexting of photos.

Contrary to some reports, that research suggests few kids are being prosecuted or forced to register as sex offenders for sexting. It estimates that nearly 4,000 teen sexting cases were reported to police nationwide in 2008 and 2009. Slightly more than one-third of those cases resulted in arrests. About one-third of all cases involved teens and young adults; the adults were much more likely to be arrested.

The studies were released Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

In the first study, researchers questioned 1,560 kids nationwide by phone, with parents' permission, between in August 2010 and January of this year. The second study is based on mailed questionnaires to nearly 3,000 police departments and follow-up phone interviews with investigating officers about sexting cases handled in 2008 and 2009.

Both studies show how sexting may include a wide range of teen behavior, and highlight an issue “about which we as a society have gotten pretty hysterical and probably blew out of proportion,” said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. Exploring sexuality is normal behavior for teens and taking pictures of themselves and others is one way “just to find out what it is like,” he said. “We've been doing that since somebody scribbled a picture of a nude woman on the side of a cave and the guys gathered around to check it out.” Sexting is different only because it is happening “in an environment that the adult community doesn't understand as well as kids,” Rich said.

The fact that about one third of sexual messages were created or sent when alcohol or drugs were involved suggests that the children who are doing the riskiest messaging are engaging in other risky behaviours as well, said Nancy Baym, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas and author of the book Personal Connections in the Digital Age.

But Professor Baym, who was not involved in the study, said it was important that the research documented “that a considerable percentage of texting is not problematic, but an extension of the kinds of flirting and relationship-maintaining behavior that goes on in consensual teen relationships and stays within those relationships”.

“It only takes one or two cases to make people think this is very prevalent behavior,” said Janis Wolak, an author of the new study and a researcher at the Crimes Against Children Research Centre at the University of New Hampshire. “This has been reported as if it were something that everyone was doing, not just in the teen population, but in the young adult population. It's really not the case.”

Dr. Victor Strasburger, an adolescent medicine expert at the University of New Mexico, said parents, schools and law enforcement authorities “need to understand that teenagers are neurologically programmed to do dumb things.” Their brains aren't mature enough to fully realize the consequences of their actions, including sexting, until early adulthood, he said. Instead of prosecution, he said, there should be more emphasis on teaching teens to be responsible with new technology. Kids need to be told “that when you put things online and even when you send them via cell phone, they're potentially there forever.”