'Kids don't really have a clear understanding of cause and effect,' she said, CNN reported. Teens can sometimes assume safety, explained study co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary, Sheri Madigan, according to CNN. Moreover, the rise in messaging apps like Snapchat that 'delete' photos and videos after they're sent have given a lot more young people the false notion that they're safe in sending explicit content via these mediums. But parents are growing concerned that sexting could lead to the mass sharing of explicit photography or messages that could haunt their children for years to come. Since 2008, the researchers have noticed an increase in sexting among the participants - more 18-and-under kids have been sending or receiving sexually explicit photographs or messages than 10 years ago.īecause evermore young people have smart phones (on average, children in the study were 10.3 years old when they got their first smartphones), and because social media consumes students' attention even within school walls these days, it's no real surprise that more of them are sexting. There was a total of 110,380 participants, all under the age of 18 - some were as young as age 11.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, used data from 39 research projects that were completed between Jan. Sexting, according to, is 'the sending of sexually explicit digital images, videos, text messages, or emails, usually by cell phone.' So it's certainly disconcerting that kids are engaging in it - but not so much because it's sexual more so because there can be serious consequences to sexting that could hurt teens' and pre-teens' emotional wellbeing. As many as one in four young people said they'd received sexts, and one in seven admitted to sending them, but the study's authors have suggestions for concerned parents and educators. According to recent research, sexting among teens and children as young as 11 has increased over the past decade.

If you catch your kid sexting, don't be alarmed - well, OK, be a little alarmed, but if it's any consolation, know that your kid isn't the only one doing it.

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