One in 10 young teens received sexual messages online in past year – surveyA quarter of girls who received sexual messages said they came from someone aged 18 or over.A major new survey has measured children’s perception of crime and online safety (Peter Byrne/PA)PA WireIan Jones4 minutes ago
More than one in 10 children aged 13 to 15 are likely to have received at least one sexual message online in the past year, a survey suggests.
While most of these messages came from children of their own age, around a fifth of those who received this type of content said it had come from adults.
The figure is even higher among girls who had received sexual messages, a quarter of whom said the content had been sent by someone aged 18 and over.
The findings are part of the first release of data from a major new crime survey of children by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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More than 6,000 responses were collected to study the perceptions of crime and online safety among 10 to 15-year-olds in England and Wales in the year to February 2026.
Questions on the sending and receiving of sexual messages, as well as exposure to harmful content online, were asked only of children aged 13 to 15 because of the sensitive nature of the topics.
The findings suggest 12% of 13 to 15-year-olds received at least one sexual message in the last 12 months, with a higher proportion among girls (13%) than boys (10%).
Of these children, nearly a quarter (24%) received the messages from someone a few years older but under 18, while almost one in five (19%) received them from adults aged 18 and above.
A quarter of girls who received sexual messages said they came from someone aged 18 or over (25%) – much higher than the equivalent figure for boys (12%).
The most common format for sexual messages was comments or texts (84%), followed by photos (51%) and videos (26%).
Some 25% of those who received at least one sexual message said they had received more than 10 of these messages in the past year.
It the first time the ONS has run a survey of this kind online and without using face-to-face interviews.
The move was intended to give children more privacy when answering questions, while allowing them to take part at a time and place that suits them.
Caroline Youell from the ONS centre of crime and justice, said: “Completing responses independently, without an interviewer or parent sitting alongside them, helps children feel more comfortable sharing honest reflections on their experiences and perceptions.
“The survey has been designed to work well across a range of devices, including smartphones, making it easy for children to take part wherever they are.
“The results speak for themselves: with nearly four times as many responses from the new survey, this is a marked improvement that gives policymakers a far more reliable evidence base for decisions that affect children.”
Nearly half (48%) of all children aged 13 to 15 who took part in the survey said they had seen a lot or a fair amount of hate online targeted at people with certain characteristics.
These included content that encouraged eating disorders, of which 19% had seen a lot or a fair amount; sexual images or videos (15%); and content that showed or encouraged self-harm (12%).
Most of these respondents said they had come across at least some of this content unintentionally, though nearly one in five boys (18%) said they had searched for sexual content online, compared with around one in 10 girls (11%).
The survey put broader questions about crime and safety to children aged 10 to 15.
Of these respondents, more than two-thirds (69%) said they had seen or heard about a fight or other type of physical violence in the past year between people of their age they know.
Some 28% said they had seen someone being threatened, hurt or assaulted without a weapon in their local area in the last 12 months, while 5% saw this happening with a weapon.
While 25% of 10 to 15-year-olds thought it was very or quite likely that people carry weapons in their local area, only 1% said they had personally carried a weapon in the last 12 months.
On the subject of gangs in their local area, nearly one in 10 (9%) said they had been worried a lot or a fair amount.
Among children who expressed worry about gangs or weapon-carrying in their neighbourhood, around a third avoided going to certain places (32%), travelling alone (31%) or going out at certain times (31%) as a result of their concerns.
The findings show children “worry about weapons and possible gang contact, though perceptions do not always reflect experience”, Caroline Youell added.
“A quarter thought people were very or quite likely to carry weapons in their local area, while few carried one themselves.”
Further results from the new survey will be published later in the year, looking at children’s experiences of bullying and being a victim of crime.
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Office for National StatisticsEnglandWalesIan JonesPress Association