WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24 (HealthDay News) ? U.S. teens who use social
networking sites and watch ?suggestive? TV shows are more likely to use
drugs and alcohol than teens with little exposure to such media, a new
survey found.
The survey included more than 1,000 youths from around the nation aged
12 to 17 and about half of their parents. On a typical day, about 70
percent of teens said they used social networking sites.
Social network users were five times more likely to report using
tobacco (10 percent versus 2 percent), three times more likely to say they
used alcohol (26 percent versus 9 percent) and twice as likely to admit
using marijuana (13 percent versus 7 percent).
Researchers said the association held even when accounting for the age
of the teens. For example, about 20 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds who
regularly used social networking sites reported trying marijuana compared
to 11 percent of kids who did not use social networking sites
regularly.
About one-third of teens also said they regularly watch teen TV shows
such as ?Jersey Shore,? ?16 and Pregnant,? ?Skins? and ?Gossip Girl.?
Regular viewers of any of those programs were about twice as likely to
use tobacco or alcohol, according to the survey, commissioned by the
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in
New York City.
?The results are profoundly troubling,? the authors wrote in the
report, released Aug. 24. ?This year?s survey reveals how the anything
goes, free-for-all world of Internet expression [and] suggestive
television programming ? put teens at sharply increased risk of
substance abuse.?
But the survey doesn?t prove that watching ?Jersey Shore? or spending
time on Facebook leads to substance abuse, only that kids who watch those
shows and use social networking sites are more likely to report smoking or
alcohol use, said Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at University of
Southern California?s Center for the Digital Future.
And yet, that?s not to say that what kids see on TV or on the Internet
doesn?t affect them, Gilbert said.
About half of teens who regularly use social networking sites said
they?ve seen pictures of kids drunk, passed out or using drugs on these
sites, according to the survey. Seeing those images may reinforce the idea
that ?everybody?s doing it,? he said.
?There is no question the Web makes information available to
youngsters. They know how to get information on drugs. There is also no
question that through social media like Facebook they can see what other
students are doing,? Gilbert said. ?If they see that, in fact, others are
smoking dope, it makes it seem to be a rite of passage.?
There also may be other reasons why the 30 percent of kids who don?t
use social networking are abstaining, including the possibility that
they?re growing up in very religious families or in homes where ethnic
traditions dictate that children be highly supervised, Gilbert added.
The survey also found that nine in 10 parents don?t think that spending
time on social networking sites increases the likelihood kids will drink
or use drugs, and only 64 percent of parents whose kids use social
networking sites monitor their use.
?Parents should be looking at what their kids are watching on
television and, secondly, what they are watching on social networks,? said
Joseph Califano Jr., founder and chairman of the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse.
In other findings:
- Nearly one in five children reported being cyber-bullied, meaning
someone had posted mean or embarrassing things about them on a social
networking site. Teens who have been cyber-bullied are more than twice as
likely to use tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. - Teens whose parents don?t ?agree completely? with each other on what
to say to their teen about drug use are more than three times more likely
to use marijuana than teens whose parents agree completely on what to say
about drug use. - Teens whose parents do not agree completely with each other on what to
say to their teen about drinking alcohol are twice as likely to use
alcohol than teens whose parents agree.
Teens were also asked if they agreed with any of these statements: ?If
a friend of mine uses illegal drugs, it?s none of my business,? ?I should
be able to do what I want with my own body? or ?It?s not a big deal to
have sex with someone you don?t care that much about.? Teens who supported
any of those beliefs were three times more likely to use marijuana, twice
as likely to drink alcohol and much more likely to smoke cigarettes than
teens who disagreed with the statements.
More information
The U.S. National
Institute on Drug Abuse has information for teens about drugs and
addiction.
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/teen-drinking-smoking-higher-among-facebook-users-survey-130807812.html
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