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A new study shows a correlation between sexting and depression among teens.

The study conducted by the Educational Development Center didn’t specifically cite causes, or suggest that sexting causes depression, or that depressed teens are more vulnerable to the allure of sexting – just that the correlation appears to exist.

The act of  ‘sexting’ as defined in the study describes it as “sending, forwarding or posting nude, sexually suggestive or explicit photos or videos”. The phenomenon of sexting continues to rise with the incredible ease of access of teens to cameras and video on their phones and computers. Add that to raging hormones, and bad and impulsive decisions can cause serious problems, not the least of which are criminal legal matters.

Sexting is a felony sex offense of distributing child pornography in many states – regardless of the relatively innocent circumstances. Laws have not caught up to the new technological reality, which is why so many state laws need reform.

But it makes sense that depression is related to sexting whether it is a cause or an effect. Teens who feel depressed, vulnerable, or lonely, might be more willing to act out unthinkingly and send a suggestive image to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Or, they might be more susceptible to peer pressure from a boyfriend who solicits such a “show of affection”.

And, after the fact, depression could result from shame, realization of bad judgement, or even more serious consequences of sexting, including cyber-bulling and taunting if such images end up being circulated more widely than anticipated – an unfortunate reality in so many cases.

All in all, there is nothing surprising about this study, but it does suggest that consequences of impulsive decisions by teens can have long lasting effects in the age of everything online (forever).

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