Analyzing Research Methods and Statistics Impact of Teenage Sexting on Children and Its Consequences

Social Media Use by Minors, Teens and Youths

Benefits of children and adolescents using social media

Socialization and Communication

Enhanced Learning Opportunities

Accessing Health Information

Risks of youth using social media

Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

Sexting

Facebook Depression

Privacy Concerns and Digital footprint

Influence of advertisements on buying

Legal Ramifications

On 'Too Young': Mixed Messages from Parents and the Law

Putting concerns over sexting into context -- the 'sexualization' of culture

Role of Monitoring of Cell Phone Use and Capable Guardians

Role of other professionals -- e.g. Pediatricians

Research Methods and Statistics: Impact of Teenage Sexting on Children and Its Consequences

Literature review

Defining Sexting

To date, not one state in the country has legally defined sexting. The closest thing many states have come to prohibiting the same, are legislations against the sharing of nude / semi-nude photos of minors via cellphones. The word sexting is a combination of the words sex and texting. It is usually interpreted to mean the sharing of sex-related material, to sexually arouse the recipient. The majority of the studies done on sexting focused on the prevalence of the trend among youths. The fact that these studies had varied sampling methods and definitions of what constitutes sexting resulted in broad variations in results / findings (Martinez-Prather & Vandiver, 2014).

CosmoGirl.com and the National Campaign did one of the pioneer studies on the issue of sexting to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy in 2008. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sexting behaviors among teenagers and youths. The researchers in this study defined sexting as the act of posting or sharing nude / semi-nude images and/or videos. The utilization of a broad definition such as the one utilized by the researchers in this 2008 research has serious research implications. One implication is that it could result in the distortion of facts or the exaggeration of findings. For example, one of the main concerns that researchers and policymakers have about sexting is the prevalence of the trend among minors and sexting does constitute child pornography. Many people have the perception that there is a lot of sexting in minors. However, Mitchell et al. (2012) argues that sexting among minors is rare and that the sharing of images cannot be legally defined as child pornography as indicated by media reports and several current studies on the issue.

There is a need for determination of what constitutes sexting. Simply defining sexting based on content that meets definitions of child pornography does not fully capture the impact of the trend among minors and youths, when they share content that does not constitute child pornography. For instance, there is the case of fourteen-year-old Angie Verona, who posted provocative photos of herself in lingerie and a bathing suit, only for her photobucket account to be hacked and the images shared on different porn websites (Martinez-Prather & Vandiver, 2014). Even though the photos were not pornographic, the fact that they were shared on porn sites resulted in other negative consequences for the victim (emotional and psychological trauma). Coming up with a definition of sexting that captures all contexts, that might result in negative consequences for the victims, would help in better understanding this risky behavior and in the development of better prevention strategies.

1.2. Social media use by minors, teens and youths

Routine use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram has been found to improve technical, communication and social skills among minors and teenagers. Sites such as Facebook and Snapchat offer youths and teens day-to-day opportunities to connect with classmates, friends, and other people with whom they have common interests. In the last few years, the number of minors and teenagers using social media platforms has increased significantly. A study conducted recently shows that about twenty-two percent of teenagers sign into at least one social media sites not less than ten times a day and more than fifty percent of adolescents sign in at least once per day. The increase in the use of social media has been attributed, partly to the increased number of teenagers who own smartphones (at least seventy-five percent) (Hinduja & Patchin, 2007). Thus, it can be argued that the majority of youths are growing up both socially and emotionally on the internet.

However, despite the many benefits that minors and youths gain from the routine use of social media sites, they also face huge risks as they express themselves or share content on these sites. This is because various reasons such as low self-regulation capacity and peer pressure. Several studies have shown that along with good behaviors, many offline negative behaviors such as sexual experimentation, clique-forming and bullying have now been transferred online in forms such as sexting, cyberbullying and so on. Other negative behaviors that have manifested by the overuse of social media platforms include sleep deprivation and internet addiction (Christakis & Moreno, 2009).

The role of protecting a child against negative influences is the responsibility of the child's parents. Though many parents have improved significantly in their understanding and use of technology, they still face difficulties in relating to their teens in the use of internet resources. This is because of several reasons. For instance, many parents do not understand the new modes of socialization brought about by the likes of Facebook and Snapchat; this is despite these two platforms being integral to the social lives of many adolescents. Many parents also do not have the time or the technical capabilities required to keep up with the constantly changing social media landscape (O'Keefe, Clarke-Pearson & Council on Communications and Media, 2011). In such cases where parents cannot keep up with their children in the technological world, the outcome is a disconnect that prevents the parents from monitoring or protecting their children from the ill-effects of the online world.

1.3. Benefits of children and adolescents using social media

1.3.1. Socialization and Communication

There are many benefits for children, teenagers, and youths in the routine use of social media. For example, young people can not only keep up with the latest news, they can also make new friends, stay connected and share content with others via social media platforms. Social media platforms also offer young people deeper benefits (O'Keefe et al., 2011):

1. Providing platforms for interaction with other community members through volunteering or raising money for community initiatives

2. Enhancing creativity through the sharing creative works and contents

3. Providing a platform for the growth of business ideas

a. Enhancing one's social networks by providing a platform for connection with others who share similar interests

b. Expanding one's worldview: through knowledge of different cultures, tendencies, issues, and world affairs

4. Enhancing one's personal identity and social skills

1.3.2. Enhanced Learning Opportunities

Students in various high schools across the country and abroad have formed groups to learn and share ideas on projects and assignments. Some schools have also come up with blogs to share extra content with their students. Learning through such social media platforms and blogs has been reported by students to be more fun and thus increase retention of learned content (O'Keefe et al., 2011).

1.3.3. Accessing Health Information

Teens all over the world are finding it more convenient to access health information online. There are many authoritative health sites online that adolescents can log onto to get information on depression, STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) and/or ways of reducing stress. Youths, with different conditions, can also join many social media groups that to share ideas on how to cope. Such online support networks have been reported to: reduce missed appointments; increase the understanding of diseases; and bring enhance dosage adherence (Krishna, Boren & Balas, 2009). Teenagers can also get advice from medical professionals via social media networks. Despite the many positive aspects of accessing health information online, teenagers are also vulnerable to, and exposed to incorrect information on social media sites. Thus, there is a need for parents to monitor closely their wards' activities, or to caution their children about the possibility of detrimental effects.

1.4. Risks of youth using social media

The use of social media platforms poses such a huge risk to minors and youths than many parents realize. The majority of the risks that young people face in the online world can be classified as follows: privacy concerns; inappropriate images, texts or videos; harassment; and negative influence by advertisers or radical groups.

1.4.1. Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

The term cyberbullying can be defined as the intentional use of any form of digital media to send hostile, embarrassing or false information about another individual. Many researchers argue that cyberbullying is the most common risk faced by teenagers in the online world.

Even though the term "online harassment" is often interpreted to mean cyberbullying, the two terms do not have the same meaning. According to researchers Hinduja and Patchin (2007), online harassment occurs less frequently compared to physical harassment. The two researchers further argue that logging on to social media sites does expose teenagers to online harassment. Cyberbullying is much more common compared to online harassment and it can take place any time a teenager logs onto a social media site. Various studies have documented how teenagers suffer from varying psychosocial effects of cyberbullying such as isolation, anxiety, depression, and suicides.

1.4.2. Sexting

As defined earlier, sexting refers to the sharing of sexually explicit content via digital devices. Many of these images and texts shared via digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and iPads can later on end up being redistributed online resulting in serious emotional and psychological effects on the victim. According to a recent study, about twenty percent of teenagers in the U.S. have shared a nude / semi-nude image or video of themselves. Though some teenagers caught sexting have been charged with engaging in child pornography rackets, many states regard sexting simply as a misdemeanor (Jaishanker, 2009; O'Keefe et al., 2011). Others caught sexting have been suspended from school. In the majority of cases, however, sexting usually occurs between two peers and does not cause any distress at all, particularly if it occurs among older youths.

1.4.3. Facebook Depression

According to Selfhout et al. (2009), the term 'Facebook depression' refers to depression that develops amongst adolescents and preteens who spend considerable time on social media platforms such as Facebook. These young people then end up showing classical signs and symptoms of depression. Contact with and acceptance by one's own peers is often a critical element of any youth's social life. Those who feel that they are not accepted or they do not get enough messages or "friend requests" sometimes tend to feel depressed. As with actual depression, those who suffer from "Facebook depression" often end up facing social isolation. This often pushes them to other self-destructives behaviors such as taking of drugs or engaging in risky sexual behaviors.

1.4.4. Privacy Concerns and Digital footprint

Many youths and adults in the world have been found to: share too much personal info; to use technology improperly; and/or to post untrue info about themselves or other people that they are familiar with. According to O'Keefe et al. (2011), such kinds of behavior put the privacy of affected persons at risk. Such information might be acquired by unscrupulous individuals and used to scam the individuals or to steal their identity.

When a teenager, or even an adult, visits a website, he or she leaves behind some data about themselves on the website. The collective ongoing capture of one's web activity is referred to as digital footprint. One's digital footprint can tell a lot about him or her. Thus, when a website or company collects a young person's digital footprints, his or her future reputation could be affected if the unscrupulously acquired digital footprint is somehow exposed to others. Many young people usually post inappropriate images, texts, or videos that can traced back to them often without cognizance of the fact that "what goes online stays online." Thus, just with a few clicks of the mouse, a teenager or a preteen can unknowingly jeopardize his own future university or job acceptance.

1.4.5. Influence of advertisements on buying

Nowadays, after spending just a few minutes on Facebook, one is exposed to dozens of advertisements. Some of these advertisements are based on their digital footprint (digital behavioral ads), others are simply banner ads while the rest are based on the user's demographic relevance. Studies have revealed that apart from influencing what young people buy, these ads also influence the opinions of young people on various issues (O'Keefe et al., 2011). Several online platforms have realized the impact of behavior ads on teens and preteens and they now prohibit such advertisements. It is important for parents, teachers and guardians to be aware of the powerful effect of such advertisements and to take necessary precautions before letting children access the internet on their phones, computers, or tablets.

1.5. Legal Ramifications

Sexting not only results in direct emotional and psychological trauma for the victim but also in damaged reputation, if the shared content ends up being leaked to unlikely audience and recipients. Currently, many jurisdictions are struggling to come up with a proper response to sexting. Various jurisdictions around the world have different laws to deal with this phenomenon. For instance, in Australia, the Federal law states that even children found sharing such material could face child pornography felony charges (Jaishanker, 2009). Other countries around the world also have stricter consequences and punishments for those involved in sexting. However, many youths are not aware of the legislations or the kind of consequences they could potentially face if they are caught sexting.

It is important for young people to understand that incidents of sexting may have serious consequences for them, their schools, or the institutions that are associated with them. Therefore, there is a need for parents, guardians, and teachers to educate children about the social, psychological, and legal consequences of sexting.

1.6. On 'Too Young': Mixed Messages from Parents and the Law

Majority of parents know that the minimum age for nearly all social media sites is thirteen years, however, do not understand why. There are two main reasons. Firstly, thirteen years is the age that has been set by Congress in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which actually forbids websites from gathering data on children thirteen years old without permission from their parents. Secondly, the official service terms for several famous sites now emulate the COPA directives and maintain that thirteen years is the minimum age for one to sign up and have an online profile (O'Keefe et al., 2011). This is the minimum age required to sign on to sites like My Space and Facebook. There exist several sites for pre-adolescents as well as younger children that do not have such age limitation stipulations, for instance Club Penguin and Disney sites among others.

It is essential for parents to assess the sites of which their wards wish to be part, to be certain that the site is truly suitable for that age. However, for sites having no age restrictions, there is a chance for negotiation, and parents ought to assess the situation through active engagement with their adolescents and preadolescents.

Generally, if a particular website stipulates minimum age for use in their terms of service, it is encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that the advice be respected. Faking age has turned into a common practice by various parents and preadolescents. Parents ought to be thoughtful regarding this practice, in order to be certain that they are not conveying mixed messages regarding lying and that the most important message being emphasized is online safety.

1.7. Putting concerns over sexting into context -- the 'sexualization' of culture 'Sexualization of culture' became a main focus of concern and interest during the last decade (Ringrose, Gill, Livingstone & Harvey, 2012). The expression is utilized to capture the growing impression that sexual dialogues and images, with pornography, increasingly permeable, have saturated western communities and influential, pervading modern culture. Porn stars have surfaced as some of the bestselling celebrities and authors; a 'porno chic' visual can be observed in advertising and in music videos; and habits once related with the sex industry such as pole and lap dancing have become recently 'respectable', endorsed as typical fitness activities or corporate entertainment. This particular change speaks of something more than just the notion that 'sex has turned into the big story' but implies a variety of different things:

'contemporary preoccupation with sexual values, practices and identities; the public shift to more permissive sexual attitudes; the proliferation of sexual texts; the emergence of new forms of sexual experience; the apparent breakdown of rules, categories and regulations designed to keep the obscene at bay; [and the] fondness the scandals, controversies and panics around sex' (Attwood, 2006: 77).

The western society has turned into a 'striptease culture' consumed with confession, exposure, and revelation. This is linked with a continual renegotiation or breakdown of the limit between private and public that is itself the result of numerous, intersecting aspects with the inclusion of the partial triumph of the sexual liberation and women's movements, the opportunities created by rapid technological change, and changes in media regulations away from censorship and towards a knowledgeable consumer model. More widely, sociologists would place claims regarding 'sexualization' within the broader developments canvas in advanced capitalism whereby relationships are assuming more 'liquid' and fluid forms, intimacy is changing, and sex is occupying a more central position in 'projects of the self' (Ringrose et al., 2012).

Growing concerns regarding 'sexualization' can be observed in the renewed stress on child 'commercialization' and 'sexualization' in the coalition government of the UK as an important area to be dealt with (DMCS, 2010). The propagation of policy and public reports includes, in Britain only in the past two years, a report commissioned by the Scottish Office, a Home Office report by Dr. Linda Papadopoulos (Papadopoulos, 2010), and lately Reg Bailey's (2011) report Let Children Be Children. It is also observed in an excess of books regarding girls' sexualization having titles like So Soon, So Sexy or What's happening to our Girls? In addition, stories based on 'sexualization' form an increasing fragment of news items, and it is quite evident that editors provide prominence to the topic as an issue of main interest to the public.

There exists sense across these sources of an assumed 'weight of evidence' that entails the notion that girls are 'directly sexualized' via their exposure to teen magazines, television programmes, and advertising, the repercussions of which comprise sexual, psychological, and physical harm and additionally that there is clear clinical proof and empirical research that premature sexualization is actually harmful (Papadopoulos, 2010).

There is, however, a great shortage of thorough research on this matter. There is specifically an absence of strong evidence base from which to talk about the encounters of children and young individuals' 'sexualized' culture. Furthermore, there exists no agreement over what is entailed in 'sexualization' -- and it is often elided with other things like body image. There is a major focus on girls across educational, policy and popular treatment of this subject; however, in spite of this there is absence of a properly gendered analysis or one that actually pays attention to other identity structural features like age, race, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. This results to an unsatisfying circumstance whereby the figure of the thirteen-year-old girl haunts the sexualization debates, yet without any study of power relations or structural inequalities, which may elaborate why, she is in danger (Gill, 2012).

An additional set of issues with literature regarding sexualization and young individuals is the way it has become unhopefully polarized amid the psychological 'impacts' tradition and a contrasting work body from cultural studies and media. The psychological tradition is simply a quantitative tradition which deals with experimental demonstrations and content analysis 'effects' of media. It has been quite important in recognizing possible dangers of sexualization, but it uses a difficult understanding of meaning and a simple meaning of media influence; it also suffers from over-dependence on laboratory (evidence) based experiments with restricted ecological authenticity, and it often confuses causes with correlations. Through contrast, the media and cultural studies tradition can be viewed as a qualitative tradition founded on listening to children and young individuals (Ringrose et al., 2012). It reinstates proper respect to children considering them as 'critical', 'savvy', and knowing consumers; however, sometimes tends towards the celebratory, treating information uncritically at face value, over-representing children as independent agents instead of as shaped by social structures, and it fights to base claims regarding the frequency of encounters by children.

Maybe ironically, these traditions have two other problems in common. Firstly, their obsession with conventional media (such as music videos) and paying no attention to young individuals' media production or social media (like web 2.0), which has resulted to a great shortage of research regarding how 'sexualization' might be inscribed in or embedded in peer-produced media. Second, and linked with this, both traditions- together with the policy reports which are founded on them- have overlooked practices to focus instead on consumption or products, regardless of, whether these consumer items or media products like padded bras or Playboy stationery are being marketed to preadolescent girls. Literature on 'sexualization' has not only not been interested on 'sexting' but, more generally in, the focus on product consumption, rather than on social practices, has provided majority of the research in the area of 'sexualization' a 'lifted out' quality, instead of understanding its importance in the day by day flow, texture as well as lived experience of the lives of young individuals (Renold & Ringrose, 2011).

1.8. Role of Monitoring of Cell Phone Use and Capable Guardians

With the rising accessibility of technology for the youth, the potential for such access could lead to, particularly for the youth, minimal supervision or oversight to assist in the prevention of unsuitable communication with peers. Concerning parental supervision of mobile phone use, research reveals that teenagers were less probable of sending sexually suggestive nude or almost nude images of themselves if their parents restricted their texting amount. While 9% of teenagers who reported sexting actually had parental limitations on their texting, 28% of teenagers did not participate in sexting reported parental limitations on their texting (Martinez-Prather & Vandiver, 2014). This particular change in sexting behavior portrayed in the presence for monitoring mobile phone activity, a likely sexting restraint, deserves further appraisal.

Even though research on the impact of the capable parent in preventing crime is narrow and techniques of operationalizing the capable parent differ, past studies on guardianship as an element of routine activity theory has disclosed a considerable impact on crime (HollisPeel, Reynald, van Bavel, Elffers & Welsh, 2011). Osgood, Wilson, O'Malley, Bachman, and Johnston's (1996) depended on routine activity theory in assessing unusual adolescent behavior, discovered the presence of such behaviors to be most widespread in the peer activities that did not have any adult supervision. This particular study was further supported by the lack of a structured peer activity, for instance a date or sporting event. In controlled events without direct supervision, other monitoring sources (such as other adults around or employees at the occurrence), were in place to guarantee social control over the adolescents (Osgood et al., 1996).

The responsibilities of a guardian have been operationalized in different contexts that stretch beyond the parental figure. In their evaluation of past studies on guardianship together with its influence on crime prevention, Hollis-Peel et al. (2011) described human guardianship to entail "closed-circuit television" cameras. Guardianship of this kind is, however, described in the framework of active supervision by human, hence preventing criminals from carrying out crimes in the regions being monitored indirectly. Thus, the present study analyzes guardianship through supervision by legal guardians or parents of mobile phone activity either via installed mobile phone devices or via regular observations.

Utilization of time by minors has been assessed not just as a social control theory function, which implies deviance is common among the break in social connections between the society and an individual, instead from a routine activities point-of-view (Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell & Dintcheff, 2007). Time utilization was assessed by the lack of capable guardianship during involvement in usual activities. Barnes et al. (2007) evaluated the connection between time utilization (for instance hobbies, homework, television, a job) and unusual/unacceptable adolescent behaviors (like cigarette consumption, alcohol consumption, use of illicit drugs, sexual activity, and delinquency). The outcomes of this particular study insinuated that the time spent with friends and family was associated with deviant behaviors. Regular time spent with family was a great predictor of less hazardous behavior amid minors versus more regular time spent with peers in an unmonitored environment, which was actually the predictor of dangerous behaviors (Martinez-Prather & Vandiver, 2014). The study also tries to evaluate guardianship via aspects of unsupervised time utilization by adolescents in high school as well as its influence on sexting activities (for instance extracurricular activities).