Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen “Sexting” Behaviors
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The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen “Sexting” Behaviors Author(s): Andrew J. Harris, PhD ; Judith Davidson ; Elizabeth Letourneau ; Carl Paternite ; Karin Tusinski Miofsky Document No.: 244001 Date Received: 10/30/2013 Award Number: 2010-MC-CX-0001 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant report available electronically. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen “Sexting” Behaviors Funded by U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP GRANT # 2010-MC-CX-0001) BUILDING A PREVENTION FRAMEWORK TO ADDRESS TEEN “SEXTING” BEHAVIORS Principal Investigator Andrew J. Harris, PhD University of Massachusetts Lowell Co-Investigators Judith Davidson, PhD University of Massachusetts Lowell Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD Johns Hopkins University Carl Paternite. PhD Miami University, Ohio Karin Tusinski Miofsky, PhD University of Hartford This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-MC-CX-0001, awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen Sexting Behaviors ii ABOUT THIS REPORT Recent years have produced growing media and policy attention to teenagers’ self- production and distribution of sexually explicit visual content via cell phones, social media, and other forms of digital communications – a series of practices commonly referred to as "sexting." Although concerns over such behaviors have been particularly prominent in the United States, the emergence of "sexting" as an issue in many other countries suggests that it has become an increasingly global phenomenon (Agustina & Gomez-Duran, 2012). As parents, schools, juvenile justice systems, and state legislatures seek to develop appropriate rules and responses to this emerging issue, surveys of youth have begun to shed light on the prevalence, nature, and correlates of sexting behaviors. Although survey research has provided useful context for understanding the scope of policy and practice challenges, it has not fully elicited youth perspectives surrounding the sexting issue, nor has it examined sexting it in the context of the social and developmental experience of digital youth. Further, little is known about how the attitudes and beliefs of parents, educators, and other concerned adults related to sexting issues, and how those attitudes and beliefs align with those of teens. Comparing the attitudes and beliefs of parents, educators, and other concerned adults to those of youth may help to highlight communication barriers, and may inform the development of viable strategies for incident response, prevention, and reducing harm. This report presents the results from a multi-state, mixed-method study investigating youth and adult perspectives on teen sexting behaviors, their motivations & consequences, and the parameters of effective responses. Over a period of approximately 18 months, our research team collected and analyzed focus group data gathered from youth, parents, and school-based professionals in a diverse array of communities in Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Carolina. The youth focus groups included 123 teens representing nine different high schools; the parent groups included 92 caregivers representing the same nine schools; and the school personnel included a diverse group of 110 educational administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, school resource officers, school health professionals, and others; in total, representing dozens of communities across the three states. Following data analysis, the research team convened a multi-site stakeholder forum, consisting of educational and justice practitioners, policymakers, and youth, to discuss the results and generate policy and practice recommendations. Our data strongly suggest that teen sexting is neither a monolithic nor an isolated phenomenon. Accordingly, we present and frame our discussion around an “Ecology of Teen Sexting” that is designed to: 1) Highlight the broad range of behaviors, content characteristics, situations, and interpersonal scenarios that may be encompassed by the “sexting” label; 2) Examine and understand teen sexting behaviors in the context of adolescents’ psycho-social development; and This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-MC-CX-0001 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen Sexting Behaviors iii 3) Evaluate how these behaviors may be mediated by teens’ interactions with families, peers, media, popular culture, digital communication technology, and social institutions including schools and systems of law; and 4) Consider how the model and its elements can inform the development of effective, youth-centric responses to teen sexting behaviors within school and community- based settings, as well as laws and policies that effectively promote youth safety and well-being. This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-MC-CX-0001 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen Sexting Behaviors iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We begin by thanking the over 300 teens, parents, and practitioners who generously gave of their time and furnished us with the vital insights and perspectives that are the heart of this project. We also owe a debt of gratitude to the district and school-based administrators who graciously opened the doors of their institutions and supported our recruitment efforts, and to the nearly 60 participants in our Fall 2012 stakeholder forum, who helped us in translating our work into the domains of policy and practice. Throughout this project, we have had the privilege of working with a phenomenal project team – special thanks to Cricket Meehan, Amy Wilms, and Sarah Hale for their skillful facilitation of our focus groups, and for their contributions to the interpretation of our data; Helen Ricci for her stellar work on this report; Phillipe Cunningham for his assistance in managing the South Carolina portion of the project during the latter phases of data collection; and our phenomenal cadre of student researchers -- Maryann Ford, Lindsey Tucker, Rob Tanso, and Deborah Paul – a talented group of young scholars who each put their own unique stamp on the project. We also thank the many people and agencies that provided us with support, guidance, encouragement, and perspectives along the way. This project would not have been possible without the support of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the ongoing involvement and assistance we received from our Program Officer Karen Bachar. Further thanks are due to Margie Daniels, David Troughton, Robert Thomas, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, and the Ohio Office of the Attorney General for their support throughout the project, and to the many experts and scholars who offered their insights as we set off into the relatively uncharted waters of this topic back in 2010 & 2011 – special thanks to danah boyd, David Finkelhor, and Mary Graw Leary for their ideas and perspectives that have proven particularly valuable as we have reflected on the meaning of our data. Finally, we are immensely grateful to Shanna Thompson, who has been with us from Day One, and contributed to this project in almost every conceivable way. Whether co- facilitating focus groups, spending countless hours knee-deep in data coding and sorting, generating her always-incisive views of the data, or just keeping the trains running, Shanna always got it done with her inimitable wit and style. Thank you all. This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-MC-CX-0001 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen Sexting Behaviors v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 1 EMERGENCE AND FRAMING OF THE “TEEN SEXTING PROBLEM” .................................................................................... 1 RESEARCH ON TEEN SEXTING ................................................................................................................................................