Study: Most teens think sexting is bad

According to the results of a new study recently conducted by a team of researchers from the Boston University and the University of New Hampshire, it appears that most teenagers today believe that the act of sexting is bad. However, as teens get older, they seem to consider sexting less harmful. The research effort was supposed to be featured in the upcoming September issue of the journal Computers in Human Behavior, but a copy of the study is already made available in the information superhighway (read it here). Findings have also been published through Journalist’s Resource.

The study also seems to show that female teens are more likely to think of sexting as something that would negatively impact their chances of landing a job opportunity in the future, as compared to male teens. 

Everybody pretty much knows what sexting is, but for the sake of clarity, Criminal Defense Lawyer defines it as the taking, sending, and receiving of nude or sexual images or video content by electronic means, like text messaging. Several states in America already have passed legislation on sexting, with many of them passed to prevent sexting among the underaged. In some cases, the activity is considered a prosecutable offense, especially unders laws that address child pornography.

In completing their study, the research team from the Boston University and the University of New Hampshire harvested information from more than 1,500 kids (from 10 years old to 17 years old), as well as interviewed (face to face and via telephone) these kids adult caregivers. 

The results indicated that 14 percent of the teens polled did not think or were not sure that the act of sexting can be illegal. Those who are 10 years old to 12 years old were more likely to report sexting images to authorities. Moreover, it is quite intriguing to note that the findings show that Hispanic teenagers were more likely to think sexting would negatively affect relationships with family, and black teens were more likely to think that they could get in trouble with law enforcement if they were sexting.

Back in August of last year, we featured the results of a separate study on sexting. This earlier study was conducted by the Kinsey Institute of Indiana University (completed in collaboration with Clue, a women’s health startup company based in the city of Berlin in Germany), and the results showed that 67 percent of the surveyed participants have stated that they have tried sexting a person before.