sext me back
December 9th, 2009 • posts i've written
MTV and AP have teamed up for a study on teen sexting behaviors and a PSA campaign to explore the issue (sexting is bad, mmkay?)
Some stats from the study:
- 1/3 of adolescent respondents admitted to “sexting,” or exchanging sexually explicit text messages and images
- Incidence is higher among 18-24s (33%) than 14-17s (24%)
- Females are slightly more likely to have shared a naked photo or video of themselves than males (13% vs 9%) and males are more likely to be the recipients (14% vs 9%)
- 29% of those that have sent naked photos or videos have done so to people they have met online and have never met in person
- Nearly 1 in 5 sext recipients (17%) report they have passed on the images along to someone else; more than half of that group report to have sent to multiple recipients
- Top reasons given for sexting: pressured by someone else, thought they wanted to see it, a desire to show off, thought it would be funny or a joke, and boredom
While some have argued that sexting is merely a new technological equivalent to old behaviors, it is important to note that sexting is now a federal offense with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. But that doesn’t seem to be deterring too many teens.
Over half those surveyed said they didn’t care that some people have faced felony charges for sending naked pictures of themselves to others. The half that did express some concern said they’d continue to do it anyway.
Download the full research here.
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