Facebook may raise risk of teen substance abuse

A New York research group released a study Wednesday claiming American teenagers who spend time on Facebook, Myspace or other social networking sites are five times more likely to use tobacco, three times more likely to drink alcohol and twice as likely to smoke marijuana.

But a San Francisco expert on juvenile justice debunked the study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University because it did not account for other factors, such as age differences or whether their parents also smoked or drank excessively.

The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse suggested 12- to 17-year-olds showed a higher likelihood of substance abuse when exposed to photos posted on social networks showing that kind of activity. The study also linked substance abuse to watching “suggestive” teen TV shows like “Jersey Shore,” “Teen Mom,” “16 and Pregnant,” “Skins” or “Gossip Girl.”

But the study was not set up to determine whether social networking causes substance abuse. “Human will – the individual’s decision to use illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco – always comes into play,” said Steve Wagner of QEV Analytics, a Washington, D.C., research firm that conducted part of the study.

“But what is unmistakable from our research is that time spent on social networking sites is associated with a teen’s risk of substance abuse,” Wagner said. “Moreover, we know that teens who use such sites in a typical day are more likely to have been the victim of cyber-bullying and are more likely to have been exposed to photos of other teens getting drunk or high on drugs than are teens who do not use a social networking site in a typical day.”

The study claimed 70 percent of the teens spent time on a social network “in a typical day.” And 40 percent of all teens had seen photos on social networks of kids “drunk, passed out or using drugs.” Half of the teens saw those photos when they were age 13 or younger.

The center based its conclusions on concurrent surveys of a total of about 2,043 teenagers and 528 parents done in March, April and May. The teen surveys had a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

Center chairman and founder Joseph Califano Jr. said in a news release that the study “offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Califano, who was secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter administration, recommended parents monitor their teen’s use of Facebook and be “involved and engaged in their teen’s lives.”

“Parental engagement is a key factor to lowering teen substance abuse risk, as are frequent family dinners, religious services and consistent messages,” Califano said in an e-mail. “We know from 16 years of surveys and lots of other research that for better or worse parents have more influence over their teen’s risk of substance abuse than anyone else, and it is important for parents to send a consistent and unified message to their teens about drugs and alcohol.”

But Mike Males, a senior research fellow at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, questioned whether the research was “fatally flawed” because it appeared to improperly compare results of 12-year-olds against 17-year-olds.

Males said the center’s link of social media use to substance abuse was “silly and trivial.” He said the study did not account for some of the biggest environmental factors in drug and alcohol abuse among teens, especially the behavior of their parents.

“These studies are worse than useless,” he said. “They really hamper discussion of a very important social issue, which is drug and alcohol abuse throughout American society.”

In a statement, Palo Alto’s Facebook said the promotion of illegal drug use was prohibited by its terms of service and is removed when reported.

“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our service, especially the many teens who use Facebook,” the company said. “We believe safety both online and off is a shared responsibility between teens, parents, teachers, companies, and other members of the community.”

E-mail Benny Evangelista at bevangelista@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page D – 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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