Is Your Teen Sexting? Risque Online Behavior Puts Young People at Risk

By Hugh C. McBride

In the early days of the online world, parental worries about teens’ use of electronic communication were mostly limited to figuring out exactly what “LOL” and “BRB” meant, and wondering how to translate that “c u l8r” note on the refrigerator into real English.

Today, the proliferation of instant-messaging services, keyboard-and-camera-equipped cell phones, and a lax attitude toward what is and isn’t “private” has led to an alarming increase in the amount of sexually suggestive and violent information that is being posted, e-mailed, and otherwise electronically shared by teenagers.

They may not be the family’s most tech-savvy members, but it looks like parents need to teach today’s young people about one very important acronym: TMI (too much information).

In a study that was published in the January 2009 edition of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, researchers with the Seattle Children’s Research Institute reported that more than half of all teenagers who frequent the popular social networking site MySpace post text and images related to sexual behavior, violence, and substance abuse.

According to a Jan. 5, 2009 SCRI press release, highlights of the study Adolescent Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace included the following:

• Data were collected from 500 randomly chosen Web profiles of self-reported 18-year-old males and females within the United States.
• Researchers discovered that 54 percent of the MySpace profiles that were studied contained information about high-risk behaviors. Forty-one percent included references to substance abuse, 24 percent referred to sexual behavior, and 14 percent contained violent words or images.
• Females who were studied were less likely to display violent information than males, and teens who reported a sexual orientation other than “straight” were more likely to refer to sexual behaviors.
•  Profiles that demonstrated church or religious involvement were associated with decreased displays of risky behaviors, as were profiles that indicated engagement in sports or hobbies.

The release of the SCRI study followed closely on the heels of news reports about two Seattle-area high school cheerleaders who were suspended from the cheer team after nude photos that the girls had taken of themselves began circulating widely throughout the school via cell phone text messages.

The Seattle cheerleader story broke little more than a year after a self-taken nude cell phone photo of then-18-year-old Vanessa Hudgens – one of the stars of Disney’s popular High School Musical films – escaped her control and made the rounds of the Internet.

As stories of improper online behavior appeared to be getting closer and closer to home – from a Hollywood celebrity to a few misguided cheerleaders to 54 percent of kids with a MySpace account – parents, teachers, researchers, and journalists began taking a closer look at this troubling phenomenon. What they found probably didn’t soothe many nerves, but the information doesn’t appear to be all bad.

News reports have been known to inflate a few similar incidents into an onerous “trend,” a behavior that seems to increase with the salaciousness of the topic being discussed. Thus, there’s little doubt that teen “sexting” (for the resolutely offline-minded, that’s “sex” plus “texting” – a.k.a. sending messages via phone or instant messenger) was ripe to be exaggerated and exploited.

But as the SCRI study indicated, inappropriate online discussions appear to be the rule rather than the exception, at least on MySpace. And considering that an estimated 50 million youth under the age of 18 have MySpace accounts, this news doesn’t sound so good.

Still, parents may not need to be in “panic mode” just yet. For example, Megan A. Moreno, one of the authors of Adolescent Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace, notes that talking (or texting) about a behavior doesn’t necessarily mean that a teen is engaging in that behavior. And parents may be able to capitalize on these online conversations by turning them into real-world teachable moments.

“Online displays of risky behaviors may actually just be displays,” Moreno said in the SCRI release that announced the study’s publication. “Some teens may be grandstanding, or may be indicating intention or considered behavior. If that’s the case, then there’s a silver lining because this presents opportunities for education and prevention before risky behavior takes place.”

A second SCRI study, also published in the January 2009 edition of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, gives credence to Moreno’s claims that youth online behavior can be influenced toward the positive.

The second study, Reducing At-Risk Adolescents’ Display of Risk Behavior on a Social Networking Web Site, explored the effects of intervention attempts by Moreno through her “Dr. Meg” MySpace profile. After identifying 190 profiles of people who described themselves as between 18 and 20, and whose posted information met the study’s criteria for “at risk,” Dr. Meg sent all 190 users an intervention message that described the risks associated with divulging inappropriate information online and provided links to online sources of information about getting tested for a sexually transmitted infection.

Three months after Moreno sent her intervention e-mail, the 190 identified sites were re-evaluated. This second inspection revealed the following:

• In the interim following the email intervention, 13 percent of the profiles decreased references to sex behaviors, and 26 percent decreased references to substance use or abuse. 
  
• Ten percent of the individuals who were contacted by Moreno changed their security listings from “public” to “private.”
  
• A total of 42 percent of the profiles implemented at least one of these three measures.
  
• Of those who received the e-mail intervention, females were most likely to eliminate sexual references.
  

To help your child stay safe online, the website 4 Troubled Teens advises taking the following precautions:

1. The old Emily Post axiom of “Don't write a letter that you don't want printed on the front page of your local newspaper” should apply to blogs. The new corollary to that rule is “Don't post a picture or YouTube video that you don't want your college admissions officers, teachers or employers to see.”
2. Your child must follow the rules of the social network. New MySpace rules prohibit those under age 16 from registering. Don't let your child lie about her age. There are networks for tweens.
3. Your child's page must be set to private. No one whom your child does not know should have access to his profile. Anyone with access to the profile can paste your child's pictures and blog all over the Internet. If your child doesn't know a “friend of a friend,” don't let that person have access to the profile.
4. Don't let your teen post any identifying information such as your last name, address, or telephone number. A T-shirt with his school's name on it and a posting about a drama club presentation on a certain day are subtle identifiers that make it easy for predators to find your child.
5. Ask to see your child's MySpace profile, and if she keeps a blog, read it and write positive comments often.

As with all aspects of parenting, the operative words regarding online safety and appropriateness are “communication” and “vigilance.” If your child’s improper online behavior is little more than bragging or boasting, you can let him know that his postings can still be dangerous, and that the words he puts online as “just a joke” can come back to haunt him later in life.

If it turns out that your child actually is engaging in the dangerous, unsafe, or illegal activities that he is discussing online, your identification of the problem is the first step in getting him the help he needs.