Who’s at risk? Teens who send 120 text messages or more in a single day. “Hyper-texters,” they’re called. Teens who are high-volume texters are 3.5 times more likely to be sexually active

My children and I love texting. It’s an instantaneous way to keep in touch and share moments that otherwise might be missed.

Like parents everywhere, I’ve taken pains to teach my children to avoid the bad habits of texting, like ignoring the people you’re with in order to text someone else, as well as the harmful kinds of texting – deadly things like texting while driving and immoral things like sexting.

It turns out, however, that there’s more to worry about when it comes to texting. While texting is nearly universal among teens, how much and how often they text might be a red flag waving.

A new study from Case Western Reserve Medical School delivers a warning for parents of adolescents: too much texting is often a sign that bigger trouble is brewing. The study found a decisive link between the frequent texting habits of adolescents and the likelihood that those same teens would be involved in harmful and risky behaviors, such as binge drinking, sex, drugs, smoking and fighting.

Teens who are high-volume texters are 3.5 times more likely to be sexually active and 90 percent more likely to be promiscuous, reporting four or more sexual partners.

Rebecca Hagelin was named one of the nation’s “Top Ten Evangelical Women” and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute named Her one of the 12 “Great American Conservative Women.”

Read More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/14/hagelin-keeping-tabs-on-kids-texting/print/