Despite a number of anti-sexting efforts made by schools across the nation, a large number of teens continue to practice sending sexual texts and images from their cell phones. 

Researchers, "surveyed more than 1,100 undergraduate college students about their experiences with sexting in high school," said an article on HealthDay.com. "Nearly 20 percent said they had sent a nude photo of themselves to another person via cellphone, and 38 percent had received such a photo, according to the survey."

The survey, conducted by the University of Utah was published recently in the Computers in Human Behavior journal, the article said. The findings, the article said, "show that sexting is occurring among a large number of high school students across the country, in spite of warnings about the dangers."

"The results are nearly identical to the findings from our 2013 study of high school students," said study author Don Strassberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah. "We believe the consistency reflects a valid estimate of the prevalence of teen sexting -- and the numbers are considerable."

Both young men and women use their cell phones to send sexual images and messages, the article said, but "there are significant differences between them." Many more men (47 percent) than women (32 percent) have been on the receiving end of sexting, the article said.

"Nothing has changed in that realm -- except that the technology makes it easy and, thus, more vulnerable to misuse," Strassberg said. "You lose control of the image the moment you push 'send.' From there the risks, which can be especially grave for teens, range from embarrassment and humiliation to unwanted sexual advances to cyberbullying and blackmail and, though rare, possibly to felony charges for pornography trafficking because they are minors."

The study also found that "boyfriends or girlfriends were the recipients of 83 percent of sexts sent by women and 55 percent of those sent by men."

"People other than a boyfriend or girlfriend were the recipients of 31 percent of sexts sent by men and 15 percent of those sent by women, the study found," said the article.

Read the full story.

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor