Hyper-texting teenagers more likely to be sexually active and drug abusers
It is highly probable that “Hyper-texting” teenagers tend to use alcohol and illegal drugs. They violate the law by getting physical, misusing prescription drugs and binge drinking.
Teens were classified as hyper texters if they sent 120 messages per day and hyper-networkers if they were active in social networking sites defined by Facebook, MySpace etc for three or more hours per day. A hypertexter’s chance of having sex was found to be 3.5 times more compared to well behaved teens.
Out of 4200 students going to high schools 840 (20%) were confirmed hyper-texters and 462 (11%) were hyper-networkers. 168 students did both. Both categories of students had had sex, with hyper-texters beating the hyper-networkers. In turn hyper-networkers were fonder of fighting, drinking and drug use compared to hyper-texters.
Risky behavior in hyper-teens could be because they are impulsive kids with a social nature and susceptible to peer pressure. Girls, minorities, kids with single mothers and less parental oversight succumb to risky behaviors, heavy texting and social networking in particular. The link between risky behavior and attributed reasons needs to be researched more.This association is confirmed by some past findings.
Half of children between 8 to 18 years of age text use cell phones amounting to an enormous average of 118 text messages every day. Parents had strict rules to limit texting in only 14% of children.
Driving and texting was common among one third of teens 16 or 17 years of age.
According to Associated Press-MTV poll, about one-quarter of teenagers have "sexted". Teenagers go online and use cell phones to share sexually explicit pictures, videos and chat. The study carried out at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine blames risky behavior to peer pressure and no parental monitoring.
The research group does not give texting alone as reason for risky behavior. "If parents are monitoring their kids' texting and social networking, they're probably monitoring other activities as well," says lead author Dr. Scott Frank, an associate professor at Case Western.
This research will be presented on November 9th, at the American Public Health Association in Denver.