Tejal Somvanshi
A new study reveals that the type of social media platforms teens use to learn about sexual health can significantly impact their sexual decisions and behaviors. Research from Ohio State
University found that middle schoolers who rely on interactive platforms like Snapchat for sexual health information showed riskier tendencies than those who used informational sites like YouTube.
Published online September 15, 2025, in the journal Health Psychology, the study of 2,691 seventh and eighth graders challenges the notion that all social media is equally harmful to adolescent health.
“Not all social media is the same,” said Eric Anderman, professor of educational psychology at Ohio State University and co-author of the study. “Adolescents have better outcomes when they rely on sites where they can get accurate information rather than sites where they are mostly hearing from other teens.”
The research team, which included scientists from Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, surveyed students in a large urban Midwest school district during seventh and eighth grades, with five surveys. All participants were enrolled in the nationally-used Get Real sexual health curriculum, which involves nine 45-50 minute lessons each year delivered by a professional health educator.
Researchers divided social media platforms into two categories: interactive platforms (Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter/X, Facebook) and informational platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Google).
The differences in outcomes were clear. Students who frequently used interactive platforms for sexual health information showed lower ability to refuse unwanted sexual activity, decreased ability to negotiate condom use, and higher intentions to have sex. In contrast, those who relied on informational platforms showed no negative effects on refusal skills or sexual intentions, and even demonstrated better condom negotiation abilities.
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“The bottom line is that using informational social media sites didn’t result in bad things happening, but using interactive sites did,” Anderman explained. The research team controlled for various factors that might influence sexual decision-making, including student GPA, parents’ education, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, and even participants’ honesty in completing the surveys.
Anderman suggests that interactive sites may be problematic because they allow misinformation to spread unchecked among teens who lack accurate knowledge. He recalled a seventh grader who asked during the curriculum if it was true that girls couldn’t get pregnant the first time they had sex – a common myth that circulates on peer-to-peer platforms.
“Many kids use interactive sites to get sexual health information and they very seldom fact check what they find,” Anderman said.
The study emphasizes the importance of directing teens toward reliable sources of sexual health information. Anderman advises parents and educators to talk with teens about being critical of information found on social media.
“Let them know that just because someone tells you something on Snapchat, that doesn’t mean it is true,” he said. “Teens need to hear that from parents, they need to hear that from teachers, they need to hear it from multiple places.”
The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs and included co-authors from Hunter College, Eastern Michigan University, University of Alabama-Birmingham, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
For parents concerned about teens’ online behavior, the research offers a practical insight: rather than attempting to ban social media entirely, guiding teens toward informational platforms like YouTube and Google for health information might lead to better outcomes.
The findings highlight that media literacy – the ability to critically evaluate information sources – is becoming an essential skill for healthy adolescent development in the digital age.
