June 28, 2019Updated June 30, 2019, 7:07 p.m. ET
Sexting is bad. Right?
It’s certainly never tied to any good headline.
But University of Texas Medical Branch researchers say that when older teens are sexting – sharing sexually explicit pictures and videos over mobile phones – it may simply be a healthy part of growing up.
In a new research paper published this week in Lancet Child Adolescent Health, researchers concluded that consensual sexting “in a committed partnership might be indicative of healthy exploration.”
Jeff R. Temple, lead researcher and University of Texas Medical Branch director of behavioral health and research, said parents who discover their teen has been or is the recipient of sexting should first take a deep breath.
“First, if you’re a parent and you find a sext on your kid’s phone, don’t freak out,” Temple told USA TODAY. “It doesn’t mean your kid is bad or a deviant.”
Consensual sexting as ‘healthy relating’
Researchers performed analysis on close to 40 existing studies with more than 110,000 teens. They found that 15% and 27% of teens ages 12 to 17 had sent and received sexts, respectively.
Plenty is still wrong about sexting, particularly when it comes to younger kids, the study found.
However, Temple is working off a “truth” that “adolescents’ exploration of their sexual identity is not only normal but a developmental and biological imperative,” according to the published paper. The problem with existing sexting studies is that they failed to distinguish between sexts that were sent or received and were consensual, non-consensual, or coerced.
While sending and receiving unwanted sexts has been associated with higher reports of depression, anxiety and stress, wanted sexts were not linked to psychological distress according to a published 2019 study, Texas researchers pointed out.
Further, a 2018 study showed that teens sexting in a committed relationship were not associated with substance abuse unlike casual sexting, which was linked with risk-taking behavior.
Temple concluded from the analysis of research that consensual sexting between older teens should move away from shaming and be viewed as “healthy relating.”
“Consensual sexting with two 17-year-olds, I’m not too worried about it,” he said.
Still a ‘public health concern’
The sexting research still yielded much for parents to be worried about.
The most concerning was that sexting teenagers were:
- More than three to five times more likely to be sexually active
- More than five times more likely to have multiple sexual partners
- Half as likely to use contraception.
Sexting being related to sex is not a surprise, Temple said. The dangers of risky sexual behavior need further research to distinguish between coerced and consensual sexting, he said, and comprehensive sex education and healthy relationships initiatives are vital.
“There are risks and we do still need to think of it as a public health concern,” Temple said, adding “I have a 16-year-old daughter, and I don’t want her sexting. There’s a good chance that it will happen. So we need to see (sexting) as more of a normal manifestation of normal teenage development and we still need to talk about it with our kids the way we talk about sex with them.”
‘Opportunities for conversation’
Doreen Dodgen-Magee, author of “Deviced! Balancing Life and Technology in the Digital World,” praised the research she read as another way to inform parents that saying things are “only good” or “only bad” can’t be applied when it comes to teens and technology.
“We want really firm and non-movable rules and hand-holding, but a lot of parents don’t understand how communication has moved to the digital platform,” Dodgen-Magee said. “Sexting is incredibly common. And if parents freak out, they may lose out on their child’s trust and opportunities for conversation.”
The psychologist says that criminalizing sexting – when it’s not actually a criminal situation – can shut down an adolescent’s willingness to share concerns with a parent. The research showed that girls are often judged more negatively than boys who sext, which Dodgen-Magee said she also has found.
“Let’s become better listeners and open to complexities of what’s going on,” she said. “And if we don’t like it and if we don’t believe in it, that doesn’t matter as much. We have to be willing to get down in the muck with them.”
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