Risky Behavior Linked to Hyper-Texting Teens

The Associated Press reports that teens who text 120 times a day or more are more likely to have had sex or use alcohol and drugs than kids who don't send as many messages, according to new research by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.
 

The study's authors observed a link between excessive messaging and risky behavior. The study concludes that a significant number of teens are very susceptible to peer pressure and also have permissive or absent parents, said Dr. Scott Frank, the study's lead author.

"If parents are monitoring their kids' texting and social networking, they're probably monitoring other activities as well," said Frank, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Case Western.

Frank's study one of the first ones to analyze texting and social networking and whether they are linked to actual sexual intercourse or to other risky behaviors. The study was done at 20 public high schools in the Cleveland area last year, and is based on confidential paper surveys of more than 4,200 students. It found that about one in five students were hyper-texters and about one in nine are hyper-networkers- those who spend three or more hours a day on Facebook and other social networking websites.

About one in 25 fall into both categories. Hyper-texting and hyper-networking were more common among girls, minorities, kids whose parents have less education and students from a single-mother household, the study found.

The study found that hyper-texters were more likely to have been in a physical fight, binge drink, use drugs or take medication without a prescription. Compared to the heavy texters, the hyper-networkers were not as likely to have had sex, but more likely to have been involved in other risky behaviors like drinking or fighting.
Frank presented the study this week at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver.