Sexting is often the butt of bad jokes, but more kids are engaging in this sort of behavior than one would guess. What is less surprising are the findings of two recent studies, that say students who are engaging in risky sexual phone behaviors—like sending naked or partially nude photos or sexting—are actually more likely to be engaging in teen sex. Sometimes the results to studies can be really wild, so it's nice to see this one fall into the realm of logic.
A new study, published in the journal Pediatrics found that 1 in 7 high school teens in the Los Angeles area have admitted to “sexting” or sending nude photographs over their mobile device. The study eventually found a link between sexting and actual sexual activity, determining students who were sexting were 7 times more likely to be engaging in sexual activities. The recent study isn’t the only one to find this link, however.
According to Reuters, a 2012 study of high school students in Texas looked at teens sending naked photos and also determined those students were more likely to be having sex. Eric Rice, who led the Pediatrics study, has noted that people won’t get STD’s from sexting (thank you, Eric), but if sexting is acting as a gateway to get teens to engage in risky behaviors--sometimes earlier than they would have otherwise--it’s definitely an issue worth continuing to observe and collect data on.
Just for the record, was anyone actually surprised by these findings?
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