Young teenagers who send and receive more than 100 texts daily are six times more likely to be having sex.

Researchers from the University of Southern California shed some light on the relationship between sexting and actual sexual behavior in young adolescents. The study contributes to the ever-growing conversation in the U.S. about whether sex-based texting presents itself as a risk behavior, or simply another means by which teens flirt with each other.

According to a survey conducted by the CDC in 2013, 34 percent of high school students in the U.S. have reported having sex, with 40.9 percent of them not having used a condom.

The researchers sampled more than 1,300 middle school kids in Los Angeles as a part of the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The participants ranged in age from 10 to 15. The researchers discovered that young teens who were involved in more 100 sexts per day were more likely to report engaging in sexual acts.

Lead author Eric Rice, assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work, is encouraging all parents, pediatricians and health educators to receive training on how to effectively communicate with these young teenagers about the dangers of sexting, and how it correlates to sexual activity. As soon as kids get their own mobile phone, the sexting conversation should begin.

“Our results show that excessive, unlimited or unmonitored texting seems to enable sexting. Parents may wish to openly monitor their young teen’s cell phone, check in with them about who they are communicating with, and perhaps restrict their number of texts allowed per month,” said Rice in a statement.

The findings of the study are published in the journal Pediatrics.