Teenage sexts ‘about trust, not flirting’

TEENAGERS engage in “sexting” to test whether they can trust each other, a study has found.

When youngsters share explicit images, they do so to find out whether their partner is capable of keeping a secret, say researchers at the University of Essex.

The findings come in a study presented at the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science.

Camilla Giambonini, from the department of psychosocial and psychoanalytic studies at Essex, said there was a “moral panic” about sexting, but added that “it’s impossible to stop young people from sharing their intimate images”.

She said it was important to understand why teenagers sent them in the first place, so that efforts towards educating children about the dangers could be improved.

Ms Giambonini asked a group of 16-year-olds why they “sexted” one another. “What they described to me is that it is very much linked with attempts with finding out if you can trust someone else or not, more so than flirting or arousing sexual interaction,” she said.

“By sharing an image, you can find out whether they are capable of keeping a secret.”