Sexting For Teens

La Trobe University has just released its latest National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health.Over 2000 16-18 year olds across Australia were interviewed and you will probably not be surprised by the findings. Researchers found that:

• 54.2% of students had received an explicit text
• 42.9% of students had sent an explicit text
• 45.1% of students had received a nude/near nude image
• 27.2% of students had sent a nude/near image of themselves

Of those who are sexually active, 84 per cent said they had received a sexually explicit text and 72 per cent said they had sent one.

Call me old fashioned but it makes me cringe to hear that the lead researcher, Professor Anne Mitchell, believes that sexting is now just a normal part of courtship. She does not believe that it should be decriminalised for people under the age of 18 but thinks it is unproblematic for the 18 plus.The survey also found that there were low rates of sexting used for cyber bullying.
For more information, check out below the  recent ABC 7:30 Report and the survey that was released in April

National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2013