Over a one year period, 1-in-25 adolescents who use the Internet received a request to send a sexual picture of themselves, reports a new survey in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The researchers, from the University of New Hampshire's Crimes against Children Research Center, say the findings represent a new peril for young people created by the fusion of digital photography and the Internet. Thankfully, the study reports that very few of those surveyed actually complied with the requests, but given the millions of youth online, thousands of children may potentially be sending such pictures.
"We think most children don't fully understand the stakes here," said researcher Kimberly Mitchell. "They may just see it as rudeness or sometimes even flattery. But the making and sending of these pictures, even by youth themselves, constitutes the production and transmission of child pornography, a serious felony offense."
The researchers noted that intimate pictures might quickly become available to the general public. "Youth who might send such private pictures to boyfriends or girlfriends may not recognize how easily such pictures can be launched into the infinite and irrevocable circulation of cyberspace," explained Mitchell.
The study also found that those at particularly high risk were victims of previous physical and sexual abuse. "Because of emotional problems, these youth may be particularly vulnerable to such requests," Mitchell warned. She suggested that it is important to quickly educate youth about the dangers of these sexual picture requests. "They need to understand the criminal nature of the requests and be encouraged to make reports about such requests to service providers and the Cybertipline [http://www.cybertipline.com], a national hotline," she concluded.
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Source: University of New Hampshire
