#digital hood: Engagement with Risk Content on Social Media among Black and Hispanic Youth.

The digital neighborhood is the amalgamation of the spaces online where youth connect with others. Just as Black and Hispanic youth live in neighborhoods that influence their health, they are also influenced by online digital neighborhoods. Youth are exposed to social media content featuring substance use, sexual risk, and violence, yet little is known about the extent to which youth engage with such content. Using a modified venue sampling strategy, we administered CASI surveys to 145 Black and Hispanic youth aged 13-24 living in low-income urban neighborhoods. Across social media platforms, respondents reported high levels of exposure to sexual, alcohol, drug, and violence-related content (65-84%). Users reported lower levels of engagement with risk-related content (on an engagement continuum), ranging from passive exposure to dissemination. While negative risks may be amplified in the digital neighborhood, youth appear to strategically limit their engagement with that content. However, because risk behavior messaging is common in these digital neighborhoods, these spaces provide opportunities for health promotion interventions.

Social Media Use and Sexual Risk Reduction Behavior Among Minority Youth: Seeking Safe Sex Information.

BACKGROUND: Sexual health is an important area of study-particularly for minority youth and youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the research was to examine the sources of sexual health information associated with youth adopting sexual risk reduction behaviors. METHODS: Data collection took place in a small city in the Northeastern United States using cross-sectional behavioral surveys and modified venue-based sampling. Participants included 249 African American and Latino youth aged 13-24. Participants reported their sources of information about contraception and human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease, such as TV/movies, parents, social media; their intentions to have sex; and condom and contraception use during their last sexual activity. Social media use, past pregnancy experience, past sexual history, age, and gender were also measured. Standard tests of bivariate association (chi-square and F tests) were used to examine initial associations between sexual risk reduction behavior and exposure to sexual risk reduction information on social media. Logistic regression models were used to test multivariate relationships between information sources and sexual risk reduction behavior. RESULTS: Youth who were exposed to sexual health messages on social media were 2.69 times (p < .05) and 2.49 times (p < .08) more likely to have used contraception or a condom at last intercourse, respectively. Parents, schools, or traditional media as information sources were not significantly associated with contractive use or condom use at last intercourse. DISCUSSION: Youth sexual behavior is increasingly informed by social media messages. Health practitioners should utilize social media as an important health promotion tool.

The Digital Hood: Social Media Use among Youth in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.

This study examines the role of social media in the lives of youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Feminist Standpoint theory, which privileges the voices of marginalized communities in understanding social phenomena, suggests that youth at the margins have specific knowledge that helps us understand social media more broadly. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 females and 30 males aged 13 to 24 about their social worlds and neighborhoods, both on- and offline. The findings reveal a dynamic and somewhat concerning interplay between the geographic neighborhood and the digital neighborhood, whereby negative social interactions in the geographic neighborhood are reproduced and amplified on social media.

Socioecological factors in sexual decision making among urban girls and young women.

OBJECTIVES: To examine how girls and young women living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods make decisions relating to sexual debut and HIV prevention. DESIGN: Thirty semistructured in-depth interviews. We used a socioecological approach to investigate the role of neighborhood and social context on sexual decision making. SETTING: Community-based organizations and on-campus interview sites. PARTICIPANTS: African American and Latina girls and young women age 13 to 24 living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. METHODS: We examine their attitudes and beliefs about sex, first opportunities for sexual intercourse, prevention behaviors, and neighborhood environments. RESULTS: Lack of neighborhood safety and safe socialization places led youth to spend significant amounts of time indoors, often without adult supervision. CONCLUSION: The findings provide insight into the socioecological context in which girls are situated as they navigate sexual decision making. Unsupervised, cloistered time coupled with peer norms to engage in sexual behavior may contribute to increased risky sexual behavior among some youth. Prevention efforts should consider neighborhood context and incorporate structural and community-level interventions to create social environments that support healthy sexual decision making.