Networking Site Usage By Teens Linked To Higher Smoking, Drinking And Drug Consumption, USA

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 26 Aug 2011 - 0:00 PDT


Teenagers in the USA who regularly use networking web sites are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and use drugs, says a survey carried out by CASA Columbia (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University), titled the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVI: Teens and Parents.

In this 16th annual back-to-school survey, teens aged from 12 to 17 years were asked, for the first time, whether they used Facebook, MySpace or other social networking web sites regularly (on a typical day). 70% said they do spend some time each day on a networking site, compared to 30% who don't.

The survey found that:

• Those who regularly go on networking sites have a five times higher chance of smoking tobacco products
• Regular networking site users are three times more likely to consume alcoholic beverages
• Regular online networkers are twice as likely to smoke marijuana

Photos of Substance Abuse Common

40% of teenagers said they have seen photographs of adolescents passing out, using drugs or getting drunk on social networking sites. Half of them saw these pictures when they were 13 years old or less, while over 90% saw them for the first time when they were 15 years of age or younger.

Those who had seen these types of photos on networking sites were three times as likely to use alcohol, four times as likely to use marijuana than teenagers who had not. They were also more likely to have friends who abuse prescription and illegal drugs.

They also found that teenagers who had seen these types of photographs were more likely to know how to get hold of marijuana, controlled prescription drugs (without a prescription), and alcohol, compared to those who had never seen the photographs.

Teenage TV viewing habits and substance abuse link

The survey also gathered data on teenage TV viewing habits and tried to determine whether they might have an impact on substance abuse. 32% of those surveyed said they watched reality shows, such as 16 and Pregnant, Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, or dramas, like Gossip Girl and Skins.

Below is a comparison on the likelihood of those who regularly watch suggestive teen programming to consume tobacco, alcohol, or drugs, compared to those who don't:

• Tobacco consumption - twice as likely
• Alcoholic drink consumption - nearly twice as likely
• Smoke marijuana - over 1.5 times as likely
• Be able to get hold of marijuana within a day or less - twice as likely
• Be able to get hold of prescription drugs without a prescription within 24 hours - 1.5 times as likely

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA Columbia's Founder and Chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, said:

"The relationship of social networking site images of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs and of suggestive teen programming to increased teen risk of substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.

The time has come for those who operate and profit from social networking sites like Facebook to deploy their technological expertise to curb such images and to deny use of their sites to children and teens who post pictures of themselves and their friends drunk, passed out or using drugs. Continuing to provide the electronic vehicle for transmitting such images constitutes electronic child abuse."

The vast majority of parents (87%) do not believe that teenagers who regularly spend time on social networking sites online have a higher chance of drinking alcohol. 89% think the same thing about drugs.

19% of teenagers said they had been cyber bullied. Cyber-bullied adolescents are over twice as likely to consume alcohol, and smoke tobacco or marijuana than other kids, the survey found.

Califano said:

"The anything goes, free-for-all world of Internet expression and suggestive television programming that teens are exposed to on a daily basis puts them at increased risk of substance abuse. The findings in this year's survey should strike Facebook fear into the hearts of parents of young children and drive home the need for parents to give their children the will and skill to keep their heads above the water of the corrupting cultural currents their children must navigate."

The survey also found that:

• Teenagers whose parents disagree on what to tell their children regarding alcohol consumption are twice as likely to consume alcohol, compared to other teens.
• Those whose parents do not agree completely on how to educate their kids regarding drugs are over three times as likely to use marijuana, and 3.5 times as likely to try drugs later on in life.
• Over 60% of high school kids say that drugs are kept or sold inside their school (fifth year running).
• 42% of them say they have at least one classmate or friend who uses illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, or acid - 24% more than in 2007.

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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