Ashly Fuller, Marie Vasek, Enrico Mariconti, Shane D Johnson
{"title":"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。","authors":"Ashly Fuller, Marie Vasek, Enrico Mariconti, Shane D Johnson","doi":"10.1186/s12954-025-01299-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>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.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>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).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>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.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>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.</p>","PeriodicalId":12922,"journal":{"name":"Harm Reduction Journal","volume":"22 1","pages":"154"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12495684/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Platforms, risk perceptions, and reporting: the impact of illicit drug advertisements on social media among UK secondary students.\",\"authors\":\"Ashly Fuller, Marie Vasek, Enrico Mariconti, Shane D Johnson\",\"doi\":\"10.1186/s12954-025-01299-5\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><strong>Background: </strong>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.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>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).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>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.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>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.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":12922,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Harm Reduction Journal\",\"volume\":\"22 1\",\"pages\":\"154\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-10-03\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12495684/pdf/\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Harm Reduction Journal\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"90\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01299-5\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"社会学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"SUBSTANCE ABUSE\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Harm Reduction Journal","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01299-5","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SUBSTANCE ABUSE","Score":null,"Total":0}
Platforms, risk perceptions, and reporting: the impact of illicit drug advertisements on social media among UK secondary students.
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.
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.