Free association Vulnerable On Teens Frequently Outgoing SMS

Denver, Mobile seems to have no longer a rare commodity among adolescents. But careful studies show teenagers who send SMS 120 times or more per day tend to have sex or use alcohol and drugs.

"Despite these suggestive findings, but that does not mean sending an SMS cause risky behavior. Instead, we want to emphasize that the 'hyper-texter' (people who send too many SMS) is one of the characteristics that adolescents experience identity pressures and lack of parental supervision, "explained Dr. Scott Frank, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, as reported by Time, on Wednesday (11/10/2010).

According to Dr. Frank, hyper-texter teens are also more likely to engage in physical fights, binge drinking and drug abuse.

"If parents can monitor children's association either through mobile phones and social networking, then they of course also more likely to monitor the activities of other children," explains Dr. Frank.

This research was conducted by surveying 4200 high school students in Clevelan. Of the total participants obtained 20 percent of students are hyper-texter, 11 percent of the hyper-networker (3 hours per day or more to spend time for social networking) and about 4 percent, including hyper-texter and hyper-networker.

"The survey results indicate that the hyper-teen texter 3.5 times more likely to have sex rather than hyper-networker, but hyper-networker is more likely to use alcohol or drugs," explained Dr. Frank further.

Dr. Frank explained, children who hyper-texter and hyper-networker such characters tend to have very social, impulsive and vulnerable to pressure. Character is what underlies risky behavior.

Researchers also found that the hyper-texter and hyper-networker is more common among women with single parents or parents with low education.

"We do still have to conduct further research, but this has been an early warning that parents should be monitoring the behavior of their children," concludes Dr. Frank.

These findings have been published in the American Public Health Association in Denver, on 9 November.