Researchers at the University of Southern California said junior high school students who engage in sexting are a lot more likely to have sex.

They said junior high students who received a "sext" message were six times more likely to be sexually active. Those who sent sexts were four times more likely to report being sexually active.

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Young teens who said they received a sext were 23 times more likely to have also sent one, said researchers. Teens who texted over 100 times a day were more than twice as likely to receive a sext and more than four times more likely to have sent one.

Sexting means sending or receiving sexually suggestive text messages or photos on smartphones or other digital devices.

"Our results show that excessive, unlimited or unmonitored texting seems to enable sexting," said Eric Rice, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work.

He said parents should talk to their children about sexting as soon as their child acquires a mobile phone.

He noted that parents might want to openly monitor their young teen's cell phone. It would also be a good idea to talk to their teen about who they're communicating with. Restricting the number of texts their teen is allowed per month could also work.

The USC study published in the journal Pediatrics primarily focused on high school students and young adults. It showed a need to train parents, health educators and others on how best to communicate with young adolescents about sexting and how this increases the chances of sex.

Another study, this by from Drexel University in California, showed that more than 50 percent of surveyed teens send sexual texts to each other, and 28 percent of these sexts are photos.

Tagssexting, teenagers, SEX, Research