Teens On Facebook And Social Media Sites More Likely To Drink, Smoke And Use Drugs: Study

Is Facebook the new gateway drug?

Teens who use Facebook and other social media outlets are five times more likely to smoke cigarettes, three times more likely to drink alcohol and twice as likely to smoke pot than teens that don't use social networks, according to a study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University on Wednesday.

But some researchers questioned whether online activity actually puts teens at risk for drug use, saying the link between the two behaviors doesn't suggest social media use encourages drug use.

After surveying 500 parents and 2,000 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, CASA found that 70 percent of teens spend time on some form of social media, which suggests that around 17 million of the country's teens are using social networks.

Half of those teens see pictures of kids drunk, passed out or using drugs while on these sites, CASA found.

Kids who don't use social media can still be exposed to these sorts of pictures, but it is a lot less likely. According to the study, 14 percent of the teens who spend no time on Facebook and the other similar sites have also been exposed to pictures of drunk or drugged peers.

"The relationship of social networking site images of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs ... to increased teen risk of substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words," CASA's chairman and founder Joseph Califano Jr. said in a press release.

But parents don't need to start throwing laptops out of windows and banishing their children back into the technological dark ages just yet. The research showed no evidence that social media influences whether kids use illegal substances.

Some researchers who worked on the study acknowledged that it didn't analyze whether social network use influences illicit behavior. According to a blog post on SFGate:

The research wasn't set up to determine a cause and effect "in part because human will - the individual's decision to use illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco - always comes into play," Steve Wagner of QEV Analytics, a Washington, D.C., research firm that did part of the study.

Some teens may feel left out when they see peers drinking and having fun on Facebook, but Time magazine questioned whether seeing a picture of someone using a controlled substance influences actual substance use.

Maia Szalavitz wrote:

Given CASA's purported horror at these dangerous images, I was surprised to see that the main webpage of its report shows a teen girl lying on a couch with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other, while in the foreground a teen boy lights a joint. Maybe even CASA can't take its own correlation-based fear-mongering seriously anymore?

The parents CASA polled were equally skeptical of social media's effect on teens. Nine out of ten surveyed parents said they thought social media did not make it more likely that their children would use alcohol or drugs.

Some researchers criticized the study for not focusing on the right details. Mike Males, a researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, told the Chicago Tribune that the study did not control for other factors -- such as a parent's history with substance abuse -- that could more definitively account for a teenager's foray into drug and alcohol consumption.

The director of Pew Internet & American Life Project's research on teens, children and families, Amanda Lenhart, tweeted that instead of focusing on the increased drug use of those who use social networking sites, CASA should analyze what makes those who don't use social media different.

Almost half of teens who have seen pictures of their peers drunk, passed out or doing drugs on Facebook saw the images by the time they were 13 years-old, according to the study. Ninety percent saw the pictures when they were 15 or younger.

Thirty-five percent of teens who have seen these photos will drink, according to CASA, which is three times more than teens who have not. For pot, the comparison is 25 to 5 percent.

Social networks are increasingly been seen as spaces that can influence teens behaviors -- and not always for the better. In an article earlier this year regarding the newly minted phenomena "Facebook depression," AP wrote about how statuses and pictures can influence teens' psyches:

"With in-your-face friends' tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some kids feel even worse if they think they don't measure up."

Many parents now take an active role in their children's use of social media. Sixty-four percent of parents monitor their children's social networking profile, according to the CASA study.

Comments

[markopolio]

02:14 PM on 08/31/2011

You know what causes teenagers to smoke, drink and do drugs? Hanging out with other teenagers. Perhaps we should ban that.

[Hammm]

06:48 PM on 08/28/2011

this study shows me how much more stupid these "researchers" and organizations are than the average user on huffpost. come on, it's obvious that people who are more social will have more of a tendency to to drink, smoke, and do drugs...and use social networking tools like facebook. these people get paid for this garbage?

[ragekage840]

12:48 PM on 08/28/2011

This just in, young folks like to get f-ed up!

[RichieThoughts]

08:52 PM on 08/27/2011

Indeed, the research has merit; too many of young people are becoming hooked on social networking. I learned that this app, Taking a Break, can help people who are hooked on Facebook and Twitter:
http://takingabreakapp.com/

[WilhelmKein]

02:59 AM on 08/27/2011

There are teens who don't use social media? Ponder who those kids might be and you'll have your answer as to why they are less likely to drink, smoke, and do drugs.

Facebook, et al. are obviously not the issue.

[thepinkpantsuit]

12:08 AM on 08/27/2011

Let's just say I am shocked by the rationalizations and anti-intellectualism going on here. This is a no-brainer. Kids are influenced by role models and peers, virtual or otherwise. If they see their friends drinking, odds are they'll want to be part of the crowd. Cut the denial; the study has merit.

[mansview]

02:56 PM on 08/27/2011

we smoked drank and had sex in the 70's, even during school hours (when we cut class),
we all became doctors, lawyers, school teachers etc.
and hey, guess what, no facebook, internet etc.
give it up.
Association does NOT imply causation
fools!

[thepinkpantsuit]

05:52 PM on 08/28/2011

Maybe you smoked and maybe you drank. Maybe you cut class. Maybe this speaks to your performance today, such as your lack of grammatical skills. But that isn't the point. The point is the larger sphere of influence afforded by a global internet, i.e., peer pressure, and the acceptance and enabling of the illegal behavior by minors. Are you a doctor, lawyer or teacher supporting that? Because if you are, I wouldn't use your services. Birds of a feather flock together. And if that is the only point this study illuminates, it has merit.

[thepinkpantsuit]

06:04 PM on 08/28/2011

And--exactly what percentage of substance abusers do you believe become doctors, lawyers and school teachers. I'd argue the preponderance of abusers do not go on to be productive, hence THE PROBLEM.

Dear god.

[LittleSanityLeft]

09:56 PM on 08/26/2011

It's social media, accent on "social". People who are engaged socially are likely to drink and do drugs, it's a no-brainer.

Prove that Facebook is directly related to a marked increase in alcohol and drug use by its users and this study might be worth the time, rather then a transparent attempt at propaganda.

[sstevens37]

05:04 PM on 08/26/2011

this is pure propaganda from the anti-social media bunch trying to take away what has come to be a tool of protesters and other so-called "political dissenters"

[thepinkpantsuit]

12:15 AM on 08/27/2011

Okay, that is like paranoid. They are only talking about teenage drinking!

[Eris23]

04:06 PM on 08/26/2011

"Is Facebook The New Gateway Drug?"

Nope. It's still water or milk.

[aquah04]

02:25 PM on 08/26/2011

eh. im 18 and don't have a facebook. i personally do not like it.

and yes the internet has A GREAT effect in some choices that teenagers make,
i know because im surrounded constantly by them and see their behavior traits

before using their internet profiling...and afterwards.

the internet is not all to blame though
somewhere you also have to ask the parents what they are doing to help THEIR CHILDREN not be part of those statistics

[twninja]

02:11 PM on 08/26/2011

The new gateway drug "being born"!!

[EStreetShuffler]

12:39 PM on 08/26/2011

I'm not sure if there's really a cause-and-effect with Facebook and teen drinking, but would offer these likely stats:

Kids who use Facebook are 13% more likely to not finish all their homework; 22% less likely to interact on a regular basis with family members, especially parents asking about homework; and 87% more likely to be on the computer trading critically important bits of news with friends at 1:30 a.m.

[ahmedj0809]

12:37 PM on 08/26/2011

I cant believe people are putting the cause of teens doing drugs towards a website. The cause of teen doing drugs is because they want to do drugs. If they are so easily convinced to do them by a social media website then that obviously shows a problem with today's youths characters and self will. Stop blaming the internet and blame the drug dealers.

[king soloman]

11:49 AM on 08/26/2011

so if facebook is the new gateway drug are all people on it loser and abusers! should we ban facebook or perhaps put a tax on it and regulate it. Maybe we can throw warning labels on the front page.

[dmoor]

10:14 PM on 08/25/2011

Are you serious?Now we blame the internet for teens doing drugs and drinking alchohol.When I was a teen my friends and I did stuff just like this.There wasnt no internet to blame,not are parents fault,wasnt because of tv.We did it because we wanted to and thats the only reason.What a country we live in where nowadays everything we do is someone elses fault.I guess during spring break all those teens are on the internet during the day,and drinking all night.