Evaluating High-Risk Behaviors in Adolescents on Social MediA

Purpose: Risk-taking behavior among adolescents has been highlighted as a public health concern for decades. Recently, the topic of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has gained popular media attention. There is little consensus among experts regarding the prevalence of NSSI in adolescents, and a paucity of literature exploring the role of social media as a platform to share or encourage NSSI behaviors or share sexually explicit material or “sexting” among adolescents. Study authors aimed to develop and administer a survey tool to identify adolescents who engage in NSSI and/or sharing of sexually explicit material and determine the following: 1) estimate the prevalence of adolescents engaged in NSSI and/or “sexting;” 2) how muc h time adolescents who engaged in NSSI and/or “sexting” spent on social media compared to adolescents who do not, and 3) of those adolescents engaging in NSSI and/or “sexting”, what percentage used social media as a platform to express their intention to do so.
Source: Journal of Adolescent Health - Category: Child Development Authors: Source Type: research