Many Teens Display Risky Behavior on MySpace, Study Shows

More than half of young adults on the social networking Web site MySpace mention risky behaviors like sex and drug use in their profiles, but that very disclosure can present an opening for intervention, two new studies show.

"We found the majority of teenagers who have a MySpace account are displaying risky behaviors in a public way that is accessible to a general audience," said Dr. Dimitri Christakis of Seattle Children's Research Institute.

Christakis and colleagues surveyed 500 randomly chosen 18-year-olds on MySpace in 2007. Among the profiles reviewed, 54 percent mentioned some risk behavior, including 41 percent for substance abuse, 24 percent sexual behavior and 14 percent violence. "Reporting a sexual orientation other than 'straight' was associated with increased display of references to sexual behavior (odds ratio, 4.48; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.27-15.98)," the study reported.

In the second study, the team identified 190 young adults ages 18-20 whose MySpace profile displayed multiple risk behaviors. Half were sent an e-mail from "Dr. Meg" [Dr. Meg Moreno of the University of Wisconsin], warning about the risks of publicly disclosing personal information and offering a link to a site about STD testing.

Three months later, many of those contacted had withdrawn references to sex and drugs and had tightened security controls. The e-mail was most effective in paring references to sex, with 13.7 percent contacted removing all such items, compared with just 5.3 percent who were not contacted.

The complete reports, "Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace by Adolescents" and "Reducing At-Risk Adolescents' Display of Risk Behavior on a Social Networking Web Site," were published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (2009;163(1):27-34 and 35-41).

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