According to the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, more than a quarter of American teenagers have sent nude photos of themselves electronically and those who have were almost twice as likely as their peers to have had sex. About half of almost 1,000 students ages 14 to 19 from seven public high schools in Texas said they had been asked to send a naked photo.
Of females who had sent a nude message, more than 77 percent reported having had sex. For those who had never sent a naked photo, 42 percent said they had had sex. For males, those numbers were 82 percent compared with 45 percent. The most prevalent group asking for and sending nude photos were white non-Hispanics and African-American teens.
I do not believe that educators or parents would have predicted so high a number of sexting was taking place.