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From the Journal Pediatrics:

OBJECTIVES: Sexting may be associated with sexual health consequences among adolescents. However, to date, no published data from a probability-based sample has examined associations between sexting and sexual activity.

METHODS: A probability sample of 1839 students was collected alongside the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Los Angeles high schools. Logistic regressions were used to assess the correlates of sexting behavior and associations between sexting and sexual risk-taking.

RESULTS: Fifteen percent of adolescents with cell phone access reported sexting, and 54% reported knowing someone who had sent a sext. Adolescents whose peers sexted were more likely to sext themselves (odds ratio [OR] = 16.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.62-29.59). Adolescents who themselves sexted were more likely to report being sexually active (OR = 7.17, 95% CI: 5.01-10.25). Nonheterosexual students were more likely to report sexting (OR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.86-4.04), sexual activity (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.07-2.15), and unprotected sex at last sexual encounter (OR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.17-2.89).

CONCLUSIONS: Sexting, rather than functioning as an alternative to “real world” sexual risk behavior, appears to be part of a cluster of risky sexual behaviors among adolescents. We recommend that clinicians discuss sexting as an adolescent-friendly way of engaging patients in conversations about sexual activity, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancy. We further recommend that discussion about sexting and its associated risk behavior be included in school-based sexual health curricula.

For the purposes of this study, SEXTING was defined as sending/receiving sexually explicit texts and images via cell phone.

Pediatrics 2012;130:667-673

The full article is available here.

From the University of New Hampshire: Rigid, zero-tolerance policies to prevent sexting that do not allow for discretion and the ability to address sexting in the context of the situation are ineffective strategies for dealing with this troubling trend, according to a University of New Hampshire professor who studies legal issues in education.

“Zero tolerance for sexting, without an understanding of context, replaces common sense with a rigid response that may be equally administered but is not fair. Turning over alleged sexters to the police for criminal prosecution may meet the dictates of the law, but school officials should have some leeway in turning over the matter to the police,” says Todd DeMitchell, professor of education and justice studies at UNH.

DeMitchell outlines his recommendations in the “Cardozo Public Law, Policy and Ethics Journal” in the article Student Victims or Student Criminals? The Bookends of Sexting in a Cyber World. Martha Parker-Magagna, a doctoral candidate of education at UNH, is a co-author.

“School officials walk the tightrope of responding to sexting in an appropriate way with little guidance as to how to differentiate between a heinous crime better handled by the police and clearly inappropriate adolescent behavior best handled by the school and the parents,” he says.

When sexting is discovered by school officials, DeMitchell recommends that school officials first notify a student’s parents. “Often resolving sexting can be as simple as bringing the behavior to the attention of the parents in order to curb or stop it. Schools must be unequivocal in considering sexting inappropriate and meeting the sharing of photos and texts with a swift and sure response,” he says.

In addition, schools must be acutely aware that sexting may trigger bullying and peer sexual harassment. Such behavior must be dealt with firmly and immediately by school administrators through existing policies allowing for disciplinary action in response to bullying or harassment.

“The taunting of students at school should never be met with indifference and silence. No student should have to run a gauntlet of abuse in order to attend school,” DeMitchell says.

At the same time, district attorneys must weigh whether prosecution is the best approach to dealing with a sexting incident or whether education is a better approach. DeMitchell stresses that society’s fundamental interest in protecting children cannot be lost in a zero-tolerance type of response to sexting.

Finally, lawmakers must fashion a reasonable response to sexting that acknowledges the harm created while not condemning students found sexting to a marginalized life through prosecution for child pornography, he says.

“Sexting is a new challenge. How schools and society respond to sexting will speak to the type of society we construct for ourselves and our children,” DeMitchell says.

Professor DeMitchell welcomes comments on his article. For further information contact him here.

In the January edition of Pediatrics researchers explored two issues: The Prevalence and Characteristics of Youth Sexting and How Often Are Teens Arrested for Sexting?

Prior to the research estimates of the prevalence of sexting varied considerably depending on the nature of the images or videos and the role of the youth involved.

A cross-sectional national telephone survey of 1560 youth Internet users, ages 10 through 17, discovered that only 2.5% of youth appeared in or created nude or nearly nude pictures or videos.

However, this percentage was reduced to 1.0% when the definition was restricted to only include images that were sexually explicit (ie, showed naked breasts, genitals, or bottoms). Of the youth who participated in the survey, 7.1% said they had received nude or nearly nude images of others; 5.9% of youth reported receiving sexually explicit images. Few youth distributed these images.

The researchers concluded that since policy debates on youth sexting behavior focus on concerns about the production and possession of illegal child pornography, it is important to have research that collects details about the nature of the sexual images rather than using ambiguous screening questions without follow-ups.

The rate of youth exposure to sexting highlights a need to provide them with information about legal consequences of sexting and advice about what to do if they receive a sexting image. However, the data suggest that appearing in, creating, or receiving sexual images is far from being a normative behavior for youth.

The second study examined the characteristics of youth sexting cases handled by police and their outcomes in response to clinical and other concerns about the risks of sexting behavior.

Mail surveys were sent to a stratified national sample of 2712 law enforcement agencies followed by detailed telephone interviews with investigators about a nationally representative sample of sexting cases handled by police during 2008 and 2009 (n = 675). The cases involved “youth-produced sexual images” that constituted child pornography under relevant statutes according to respondents.

The researchers discovered that US law enforcement agencies handled an estimated 3477 cases of youth-produced sexual images during 2008 and 2009 (95% confidence interval: 3282-3672). Two-thirds of the cases involved an “aggravating” circumstance beyond the creation and/or dissemination of a sexual image.

In these aggravated cases, either an adult was involved (36% of cases) or a minor engaged in malicious, non-consensual, or abusive behavior (31% of cases). An arrest occurred in 62% of cases with an adult involved, in 36% of the aggravated youth-only cases, and in 18% of the “experimental” cases (youth-only and no aggravating elements).

Most of the images (63%) were distributed by cell phone only and did not reach the Internet. Sex offender registration applied in only a few unusual cases.

The conclusion of this study is that many of the youth sexting cases that come to the attention of police include aggravating circumstances that raise concerns about health and risky sexual behavior, although some cases were relatively benign. Overall, arrest is not typical in cases with no adults involved.

Prevalence and Characteristics of Youth Sexting: A National Study

How Often Are Teens Arrested for Sexting? Data From a National Sample of Police Cases