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Kids see more sex on TV than online, research suggests

Martin E. Klimek, for USA TODAY

San Francisco, CA -- Teen shoppers respond to an in-store promotion by texting in on their cell phones and PDAs. Of concern for parents has been the issue of sexting, which involves young people sending nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Research has shown that despite the attention sexting has received, very few kids say they have done it — about 5% say they sexted via text messaging in the past year.

Martin E. Klimek, for USA TODAY

San Francisco, CA -- Teen shoppers respond to an in-store promotion by texting in on their cell phones and PDAs. Of concern for parents has been the issue of sexting, which involves young people sending nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Research has shown that despite the attention sexting has received, very few kids say they have done it — about 5% say they sexted via text messaging in the past year.

"Do not worry more," says Michele Ybarra, president and research director of the nonprofit research organization called Internet Solutions for Kids, based in San Clemente , Calif.

Many adult assumptions, she says, are just plain wrong and aren't borne out by research she presented at the meeting, which continues through Sunday. More than 13,200 psychology professionals are attending.

One of the myths she says she's discovered about kids growing up with technology is that kids are exposed to a lot of sexual content online. She says the truth is that young people are much more likely to be exposed to sexual material through television and music than they are through websites and video games.

Her research suggests that exposure to sexual material is highest with TV, at 75%, followed by music, at 69%, she says. The Internet is the least common way kids are exposed to sexual material, at 16% to 25%.

Another myth she cites is that the online experiences of many young people — from cyberbullying to sexting — are negative. But she says most young people are not having negative experiences online. In her studies, 62% of young people say they have neither been harassed nor bullied online.

Ybarra presented data from a yet unpublished study, which will appear in the journal Pediatrics. It is based on two surveys. Her national, longitudinal Growing up with Media survey, began in 2006 and is ongoing; it includes data from 1,588 kids who were ages 10-15 when the online survey began. It will continue through next year when the kids will be ages 16-21, she says. The aim is to identify the associations between violence in new media and seriously violent behavior.

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