Teenage sexting a health-and-safety risk to reckon with

Around a third of teens between 13 and 17 years old are involved with sexting—either as senders, receivers or both. Among the senders, around half become victims of unwanted re-sharing. 

In worst-case scenarios, explicit teenager sexts reach scammers who blackmail the original sender for money or some other form of payout. Between 2021 and 2025, nearly 40 boys who were extorted in this way felt ashamed enough to take their own lives. 

A study published this month in Journal of Adolescent Health outlines the salient factors behind the troubling teenage-sexting trend.

For the research project, criminal-justice professors Justin Patchin, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin and Sameer Hinduja, PhD, of Florida Atlantic University drew data from a nationally representative survey of around 3,500 teens conducted in 2025. 

Among their key findings:

• Overall, 32.4% of youth in the sample reported that they had received a sext, while 23.9% said they had sent one. 
   
• Male youth were significantly more likely than female youth to have received (36% compared to 28.8%) and sent (29.7% compared to 17.8%) sexts. 
   
• Respondents who identified as non-heterosexual were significantly more likely than heterosexual students to have received (39.9% compared to 31.6%) and sent (28.6% compared to 23.3%) sexts. 
   
• Youth who sexted outside a current relationship were more than 13 times as likely to have images shared without consent. 
   
• The latter cohort was also five times more likely to experience sextortion compared to those who only sexted with a partner.

Depression is a risk factor for teenage risk-taking 

In their discussion section, Patchin and Hinduja—who also work as co-directors of the Cyberbullying Research Center—state they expected to find even more sexting going on in the 13- to 17-year-old cohort. 

Even though one-third is a sharp increase over the sexting rates they found in 2019 using the same methodology, they’re encouraged to note that the new research “shows sexting to occur among a minority of teens at this age, contrary to popular opinion.”

“Educators and parents should share these findings with youth,” the researchers remark, “to help them recognize that sexting participation rates are lower than commonly perceived, potentially reducing the peer pressure they may experience to engage in such behaviors.”

Patchin and Hinduja also place their findings within the context of broader currents shaping teen culture in the U.S. 

Citing prior research showing around 40% of high-school students feel persistently sad or hopeless—with 20% acknowledging they’ve seriously considered suicide—the researchers point out that depression and related anxiety can contribute to poor decision-making. 

When emotionally rattled by such negative states of mind, risk-tolerant teens tend to engage in risky behaviors all the more, “reflecting a pattern consistent with broader links between depression and sexual risk-taking,” Patchin and Hinduja remark. 

Grownups need to step up and step in  

In coverage of the study by Florida Atlantic University’s news operation, Hinduja says he finds it “deeply concerning” that teenage sexting behaviors are tied to coercion, nonconsensual sharing and sextortion. 

“Our study underscores the urgent need to move beyond simple ‘don’t sext’ messages and instead provide youth with meaningful education around consent, boundaries and digital safety,” he adds. 

“By teaching youth how to recognize risky situations, protect their privacy and make informed choices online, we can reduce harm while respecting their autonomy,” Hinduja says. “It’s not about fear or punishment—it’s about equipping them to navigate a complex digital world safely.”

Unrelated to the present study, the American Hospital Association maintains a webpage offering resources for hospitals and health systems that are ready, willing and able to “play an important role in ensuring children and adolescents receive the behavioral healthcare they need to thrive.”