According to a recently-released study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, though 'texting' has become a routine activity with a vast number of teenagers having mobile phones, only a small fraction of them participate in 'sexting' - that is, sending or receiving sexually suggestive or nude pictures through text messages.

As per the study, currently nearly 75 percent of teenagers around the country have cell phones and almost 66 percent of them send text messages. Among the 12-year-olds, cell phone use has increased from 18 percent in 2004 to 58 percent in 2009; while among the 17-year-olds, it has increased from 64 percent to 83 percent.

The study, for which 800 US teens, aged 12 to 17 years, were questioned, found that while 15 percent of the teenagers with cell phones have received sexually suggestive or nude images; only 4 percent have sent such images.

Clearly indicating that the sexting practice likely increases as children grow older, the study found that among 17-year-old US teenagers, 30 percent have received sex-related texts or images, while 8 percent have sent such texts.

The study further said: "Just 9 percent of teens who sent sexy images by text had parents who restricted the number of texts or other messages they could send; 28 percent of teens who didn't send these texts had parents who limited their child's texting."