A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. ~John C. Maxwell
Social networking is not just a phenomenon anymore. It has changed the way people communicate. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University discovered that spending excess amounts of time on social networking sites leads to poor sleep patterns. This, in turn, influences drug use in teenagers.
The study was led by Sara C. Mednick, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System.
“This is our first investigation of the spread of illegal drug use in social networks,” said Mednick. “We believe it is also the first study in any age population on the spread of sleep behaviors through social networks.”
The researchers mapped the social networks of 8.349 kids in grades 7 through 12. They found clusters of poor sleep behavior and marijuana use that extended up to four degrees of separation (to one’s friends’ friends’ friends’ friends’) in the social network.
“Our behaviors are connected to each other and we need to start thinking about how one behavior affects our lives on many levels,” said Mednick. “Therefore, when parents, schools and law enforcement want to look for ways to influence one outcome, such as drug use, our research suggests that targeting another behavior, like sleep, may have a positive influence.”
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