Informational versus interactive social media usage and sexual risk during early adolescence

Social media is a daily part of adolescent life. Although adolescents use social media primarily to interact with peers, they also use it to acquire information. This study examines the relations between adolescents' likelihood of using social media to obtain information about sexual health and changes in self-efficacy for refusing unwanted sex and for using condoms and intentions to have sex.

Early adolescents from 21 urban middle schools (Grades 7 and 8) received a medically accurate sexually transmitted infection/pregnancy prevention curriculum during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years. Students completed surveys 5 times-before, during, and after implementation of the curriculum. The sample was ethnically diverse and representative of the urban population.

The likelihood of using interactive social media sites was related to increased intentions to have sex and lower condom negotiation efficacy and refusal self-efficacy. The likelihood of using informational social media was related to increased condom negotiation efficacy. The negative relation between refusal self-efficacy beliefs (i.e., perceived ability to refuse having sex with a partner) and the likelihood of using interactive social media was diminished when students also reported high levels of potential informational social media site usage.

Findings demonstrate that the types of social media that early adolescents use to acquire information about sexual health are related to adaptive health outcomes in different ways. Our results suggest that the likelihood of using informational social media sources to acquire sexual health information may be more adaptive than the use of interactive sites. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).