A new survey released today from the nation's leading tween girl marketing consultancy and research company, AK Tweens (www.aktweens.com),shows an alarming trend among tween girls - sexting.

Believed by most experts and parents to be a "teen" only problem, the survey revealed that 30% of tween girls - many as young as 10 years old - are "sexting" - sending, receiving and/or posting sexy messages/photos (e.g. photos of themselves in their underwear, or without clothes, messages of a sexual or suggestive nature) online and via cell phone/email.
 
The survey, conducted by AK Tweens, through AllyKatzz.com (www.allykatzz.com) , the country's largest COPPA compliant tween girl social networking site, surveyed 300 AllyKatzz.com tween girl members, ages 9-15, from around the US. The results are disturbing to say the least - most notably:
 

• 30% have sent or received sexy messages/photos of themselves, and nearly 67% have posted some type of photo or video of themselves online

• Of the 30% who have sent or received sexy messages/photos, 33.7% have sent sexy messages/photos, 11.2% have posted and nearly 81% have received sexy messages/photos

• Tween girls responded that they started sending sexy messages/photos at age 12, but receiving them, often from people they don't know, as young as 10

• When asked why they send or post sexy messages/photos, 82.2% said to get attention, 66.3% said to be "cool," 59.4% said to be like the popular girls, and 54.8% said to find a boyfriend

• 47.2% have thought about sending sexy messages/photos

• When tween girls receive sexy messages/photos that upset them, girls ages 10,11,12 are likely to tell a parent, but girls 13 and older are less likely to do so for fear their computers will be taken away and instead forward the messages/photos to their friends for "help"

• 29% have MySpace accounts and 33.2% have Facebook accounts - of these tweens, 51% have been contacted via these sites by a stranger, and 54% believe that only people they know can access their Facebook/MySpace pages

As Denise Restauri, AK Tweens Founder and CEO, and the country's foremost marketing expert on tweenage girls, says, "Most parents of tween girls have a false sense of security that their daughters aren't old enough to know or care about sexting, let alone participate, so they are less likely to talk about sexting and the consequences.

They mistake not hearing about it from their daughters as a sign that it's not happening, when instead, it's likely a sign that they just aren't telling their parents about it." 

Denise continues, "Even the recent spate of media attention sexting has received has been almost exclusively focused on teens. Tweens are just as tech savvy and connected these days as their teen counterparts, but even less equipped to understand or deal with the negative and long lasting consequences sexting produces." 
 
AK Tweens is the nation's leading tween girl marketing consultancy and research company that captures the thoughts and opinions of tweenage girls and is built around the country's largest COPPA compliant tween social networking site, www.AllyKatzz.com. AK Tweens Founder and CEO, Denise Restauri, is the country's foremost expert on tweenage girls and is a frequent commentator on national TV, newspapers and magazines including CBS Early Show, The Today Show, BBC America, ABC, NPR, E!Online, USA Today, and many others. She is the tween girl expert on True/Slant.com <http://trueslant.com/deniserestauri/>