Platforms, risk perceptions, and reporting: the impact of illicit drug advertisements on social media among UK secondary students.

IF 4 2区 社会学 Q1 SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Ashly Fuller, Marie Vasek, Enrico Mariconti, Shane D Johnson
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Abstract

Background: The sale and advertisement of illicit drugs on social media is a rapidly evolving landscape. While existing research has focused on market structures, purchase strategies, and platform types, there is limited understanding of how viewing such content affects young people. This study aims to examine young people's experiences with illicit drug ads on social media and explore the relationship between exposure to these ads and their attitudes and behaviours towards drug use.

Methods: We conducted an online survey of students aged 13-18 (N = 1,151), distributed to UK schools by two drug education charities. Participants had a mean age of 14.7 years (SD = 1.28), and gender distribution was roughly equal (51% female, 47% male).

Results: Most participants encountered drug-related content on social media, with 29% having seen illicit drugs advertised for sale without actively searching for them. While Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok were the most common platforms for these ads, rates of exposure per unit of time were found to vary across platforms. Exposure to drug safety advice differed across platforms, with participants reporting encountering drug safety advice more frequently than illicit drug ads on TikTok for example, highlighting the potential for leveraging social media to promote drug safety. We also find significant associations between young people's exposure to content and decreased risk perceptions, along with increased interest in and intention to buy illicit drugs.

Conclusion: Our research is the first to provide a detailed understanding of platform exposure to illicit drug ads on social media, highlighting the need for research across diverse platforms. Despite our findings, the impact of exposure to drug ads remains unclear. We advocate for a new approach to studying this issue, integrating an online safety perspective.

平台、风险认知和报告:非法药物广告对英国中学生社交媒体的影响。
背景:非法药物在社交媒体上的销售和广告正在迅速发展。虽然现有的研究主要集中在市场结构、购买策略和平台类型上,但对观看此类内容如何影响年轻人的理解有限。本研究旨在调查年轻人在社交媒体上接触非法药物广告的经历,并探讨接触这些广告与他们对药物使用的态度和行为之间的关系。方法:我们对13-18岁的学生(N = 1151)进行了在线调查,这些学生由两个毒品教育慈善机构分发到英国的学校。参与者的平均年龄为14.7岁(SD = 1.28),性别分布大致相等(51%女性,47%男性)。结果:大多数参与者在社交媒体上遇到与毒品有关的内容,29%的人在没有主动搜索的情况下看到过出售毒品的广告。虽然Snapchat、Instagram和TikTok是这些广告最常见的平台,但单位时间的曝光率在不同平台上有所不同。不同平台对药物安全建议的接触程度不同,例如,参与者报告说,在TikTok上遇到药物安全建议的频率高于非法药物广告,这突显了利用社交媒体促进药物安全的潜力。我们还发现,年轻人接触内容与风险认知降低、对非法药物的兴趣和购买意愿增加之间存在显著关联。结论:我们的研究首次提供了对社交媒体上非法药物广告的平台暴露的详细了解,强调了跨不同平台研究的必要性。尽管有我们的发现,但接触药物广告的影响仍不清楚。我们提倡用一种新的方法来研究这个问题,整合网络安全的观点。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Harm Reduction Journal
Harm Reduction Journal Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
CiteScore
5.90
自引率
9.10%
发文量
126
审稿时长
26 weeks
期刊介绍: Harm Reduction Journal is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal whose focus is on the prevalent patterns of psychoactive drug use, the public policies meant to control them, and the search for effective methods of reducing the adverse medical, public health, and social consequences associated with both drugs and drug policies. We define "harm reduction" as "policies and programs which aim to reduce the health, social, and economic costs of legal and illegal psychoactive drug use without necessarily reducing drug consumption". We are especially interested in studies of the evolving patterns of drug use around the world, their implications for the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne pathogens.
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