2009 AP-MTV Digital Abuse Study
3 in 10 young people report having been involved in some type of naked sexting.
- Incidence overall is higher among 18-24s (33%) than 14-17s (24%).
- Similar numbers (29%) report receiving messages “with sexual words or images” by text or on the internet.
Sexts often have unintended viewers and are often forwarded as a form of social currency by those looking to show off or be funny.
- Nearly 1 in 5 sext recipients (17%) report that they have passed the images along to someone else. More than half (55%) of those who passed the images to someone else say they shared them with more than one person.
- The most popular reasons given for forwarding sexts include the assumption that others would want to see them (52%), a desire to show off (35%), and boredom (26%).
- Teens also report that they have shared sexts as joke (31%) or to be funny (30%).
- 14% of young people who have shared a naked photo or video of themselves suspect that the recipient probably shared the image with someone else without permission.
Subscribe