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Teens Not Chronic 'Sexters' After All

Only 10% of children aged 10 to 17 have 'sexted': study

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 5, 2011 3:57 PM CST

(Newser) – So much for pervy teens flooding each other's cell phones with naked images. Despite the prevalence of reports on teen "sexting," it seems only 10% of kids aged 10 to 17 have texted sexual photographs—and just 1% have texted images graphic enough to violate child porn laws, the New York Times reports. A new nationwide study says it's actually older teens and young adults who text graphic pics more often.

When young teens and children do send naked shots, it's usually for romantic reasons—to grab a classmate's eye or show some skin to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Roughly a third of them said alcohol or drug use was involved, but only 3% forwarded graphic pics they had received. So why all the hubbub over teen "sexting"? “It only takes one or two cases to make people think this is very prevalent behavior,” one expert says. "It’s really not the case." (We at Newser have been guilty of it too—like here, here, and here...)

A new study on "sexting" is one fo the largest of its kind, based on detailed phone conversations with 1,560 children nationwide. (Shutterstock)

Children and teens aged 10 to 17 aren't "sexting" so often as we thought, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. (Shutterstock)

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Teens Not Chronic 'Sexters' After All

Only 10% of children aged 10 to 17 have 'sexted': study

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