Former Congressman Anthony Weiner resigned in the wake of a sexting scandal. (File/UPI/John Angelillo) |
License Photo
GALVESTON, Texas, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- For teens, sexting may be the new first base. That's the takeaway from a new study that suggests sexting is a now normal part of sexual experimentation for young people -- an act that often precedes sexual intercourse and an increasingly revealing sign of a teen's sexual activity.
Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit pictures or asking to receive one via mobile technology. And it's becoming increasingly common, as more and more teens are armed with smartphones.
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) studied the relationship between teenage sexual behavior and sexting by having 964 ethnically diverse teenagers fill out anonymous surveys over a period of six years. The surveys asked for information about each teen's history of sexting and sexual activity.
In the second round of surveys, 60 percent of participants had been asked for a sext, though only 27 percent admitting sending any. About 31 percent said they had asked for a sext.
"We now know that teen sexting is fairly common," lead researcher Jeff Temple, an associate professor and psychologist at UTMB, said in a press release. "For instance, sexting may be associated with other typical adolescent behaviors such as substance use. Sexting is not associated with either good or poor mental well being."
The researchers found that while sexting often precipitated sexual intercourse, those who admitted to sexting in the second round of surveys were only slightly more likely to have had sex by the following round. Researchers say that sexting did not predict risky sexual behaviors later on.
"Despite this growing body of knowledge, all existing sexting research looks across samples of different groups of young people at one time, rather than following the same people over time," added Temple. "Because of this, it's unclear whether sexting comes before or after someone engages in sexual activity."
"Sending a nude photo may communicate to the recipient a level of openness to sexual activity, promote a belief that sex is expected, and serve to increase sexual advances, all of which may increase the chance of future sexual behavior," said postdoctoral research fellow at UTMB, Hye Jeong Choi. "Sexting may serve as a gateway behavior to actual sexual behaviors or as a way to indicate one's readiness to take intimacy to the next level."
The study was published this week in the journal Pediatrics.
