Teen sexting: One in five asked to send nude pics

  • 28/10/2017
Sexting
The survey found 40 percent of respondents know someone who's sent an explicit picture. Photo credit: Getty

Almost one in five Kiwi teens have been asked for nude, or nearly nude pictures, in the last year.

But only 4 percent of people between the ages of 14 and 17 have sent them.

Martin Cocker from Netsafe says the figure surprised him.

"A lot of people are being pressured to do it, yes, a lot of people know somebody who's done it, but only a small percentage of young people have actually done it."

The survey also found 40 percent of respondents know someone who's sent an explicit picture.

Mr Cocker says that figure cannot be brushed off.

"If you think of a large school, one child in every class has done it - there's a lot of opportunity for that to go bad. It's not insignificantly small at 4 percent at all."

Almost a third of respondents said they've felt pressure to engage in the behaviour.

"They are going to have it explained to them it's normal and common, but the reality is it's not that common," says Mr Cocker. "If they don't want to produce those images and send them, they should stand their ground and not do it."

Mr Cocker says it's the first research of its type in New Zealand.

"The results [are] very important. They tell us that lots of young people feel pressured to share intimate images however only a minority of them are engaging in this behaviour."

The survey's full findings will be revealed at the Online Safety on the Edge conference in Australia next week.

Newshub.