Kids reveal a lot about themselves online

A new study shows that more than half of teenagers mention drugs, alcohol, sex or violence on their MySpace pages. Yet getting teens to clean up their pages is easier than many might assume, researchers say. More than 90% of adolescents have Internet access, and about half of these use social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, according to the study of 500 18-year-olds in Monday's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For all their Internet savvy, however, teenagers are still immature and impulsive, which can make them targets for online predators or bullies. Young people also could be rejected by college or business recruiters who see coarse language or photos on their profiles, says the study's lead author, Megan Moreno, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Online boasting also can make it seem as if everyone is drinking and having sex — which can pressure other teens to take risks, Moreno says. She notes that some teenagers whose profiles mentioned church, sports or hobbies were less likely to mention risky behaviors. Moreno says she motivated some teens to clean up their profiles with a single e-mail.