CARNAL NATION

A study conducted by the Associated Press and MTV found that 30 percent of youth have either sent or received nude photos on their cell phones or the web. In total, 10 percent have sent these sexy messages with more girls involved in the sending end than boys (13 percent versus 9 percent).

Those who reporting being sexually active were twice as likely to send nude photos and 17 percent admitted to passing on the image to someone else. Of those who sent sexy photographs, 9 percent distributed them to more than one person and 29 percent shared their pictures with someone they encountered online and had never met in person.

According to over half (52 percent) of the 1247 youth participants, their primary reason for sharing sexy photos was the assumption that others would want to see them. Others reported a desire to show off (35 percent) and boredom (26 percent) as motivating factors while 30 percent of sexters sent sexts as a joke or to be funny.

While only half of the youth surveyed believed that the things they post online could come back to haunt them in the future, 69 percent believe that digital abuse is a serious problem and 50 percent of 14 to 24 year-olds have experienced some form of this abuse.

CBS reports that the findings are posted on the website of AThinLine.org as part of a safety awareness and empowerment campaign targeted at youth.