Teens Present Themselves Responsibly on MySpace

Turns out that teens may be perfectly capable of protecting themselves on social networking sites, according to a recent study by Justin Patchin, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Clair, and Sameer Hinduja, a criminology professor at Florida Atlantic University. Plugging the unique number MySpace assigns to each profile into a random number generator allowed them to view 1,475 teenage profiles that are open to the public. No user was contacted directly, but researchers reported the information available on the profiles themselves.

According to the researchers:

About 91% of those teens’ profiles reviewed did not list full names, which could be valuable information to online predators. About 40% of youngsters on MySpace keep their profiles private and are only viewable to fellow MySpacers on their friends’ list, the study showed.
However, not all youth are acting responsibly. The authors of the unpublished study did find that 5% posted pictures of themselves in bathing suits or underwear. Also, 15% of the profiles viewed showed friends in bathing suits or underwear.

The study was reported today in USA Today. More here.

The researchers remarked:

“We saw the media reports claiming that millions of kids were at risk on MySpace, but there were no definitive studies to back up the claims,” Patchin said.
Parents who ban MySpace will only cause children to manage their myspace account from school, the library or a friend’s house, Hinduja said.

Posted by Michael Stoner
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