title: Prevalence and patterns of sexting among ethnic minority urban high school students.
abstract: Although sexting among U.S. youth has received much popular media attention, there are only limited data on its prevalence among ethnic minority youth. This study, therefore, specifically examined the prevalence and patterns of sexting (sending and/or receiving a nude or semi-nude picture/video or a sexual text-only message) among a sample of black and Hispanic youth. Data from 1,034 tenth graders from a large, urban school district in southeast Texas were used to calculate the prevalence of sexting by gender-race/ethnicity. Overlap among sexting behaviors was also examined. Electronic surveys were administered via an audio-computer-assisted self-interview on laptop computers. Prevalence estimates were obtained, and chi-square analyses were conducted to compare the distribution of sexting behaviors by gender-race/ethnicity subgroups. More than 20% of students reported sending either a nude or semi-nude picture/video or a sexual text-only message (jointly referred to as a "sext"), and more than 30% reported receiving a sext. Sexts were also frequently shared with unintended recipients. Black males and females reported similar prevalence estimates for sexting behaviors. However, they were more likely than Hispanic males to participate in some sexting behaviors. Hispanic females reported the lowest estimates for sexting behaviors for all gender-race/ethnicity subgroups. Many youth who sent or received a nude or semi-nude picture/video were also likely to have sent or received sexual text-only messages. The results of this study indicate that sexting is prevalent among ethnic minority youth. However, more research is needed to understand the specific context and circumstances around which sexting occurs in this population.
authors: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston , School of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Melissa.F.Peskin@uth.tmc.edu
authors: Melissa
authors: M
authors: Fleschler Peskin
authors: Christine M
authors: CM
authors: Markham
authors: Robert C
authors: RC
authors: Addy
authors: Ross
authors: R
authors: Shegog
authors: Melanie
authors: M
authors: Thiel
authors: Susan R
authors: SR
authors: Tortolero
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060145:Text Messaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data