Other LanguagesNew studies shows that more than half of teenagers mention drugs, alcohol, sex or violence on their MySpace pages – information that may hurt their chances of securing a desirable job or being admitted to a choice college. But experts say getting teens to clean up their pages is possible.
The studies were conducted by the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington. They were published in the January 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.
Megan Moreno, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reportedly sent messages via MySpace to 190 teens in an impoverish Washington, D.C. neighborhood, and questioned whether it was a good idea for them to be so open about sexual behaviors and other issues. She included info about STDs. Three months later, 13 percent of those who received her e-mail had eliminated sexual references from their profiles and 26 percent decreased substance use referencse.
Listen to researcher Dr. Dimitri Christakis discussing the study findings.
More information about Internet Safety can be found here on the Attorney General's Web site.