Young Peoples' Risky Behavior on Social Network Sites

 Researchers say more than half of young people who use MySpace often discuss high-risk behaviors. Two studies of the social networking site recently appeared in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. . 

研究人员称一半以上使用 MySpace 的年轻人经常讨论关于高危险行为的话题。两篇关于网络社区的研究报告最近出现在儿科和青少年医学的案卷里 

In one study, researchers examined the pages of five hundred eighteen-year-olds from the United States . They found that forty-one percent of the profiles chosen at random included information about alcohol or drug use. Twenty-four percent discussed sexual behavior. And fourteen percent included discussion of violence. 

在一份研究报告里，研究人员查阅了来自美国的 500 名 18 岁青少年档案，在随机抽取的数据曲线图中发现青少年讨论关于酗酒和毒品吸食话题占 41% ，性行为话题占 24% 和暴力话题占 14% 。 

Young people who said they were active in religious groups, sports or other interests were less likely to discuss risky behaviors. 

而那些热衷宗教组织活动、体育或其他兴趣的青少年却很少讨论那些危险行为话题 

In the second study, the researchers read the MySpace profiles of about one hundred ninety individuals. All said they were eighteen to twenty years old. Each person discussed high-risk behaviors. 

在第二份调查报告中，研究人员察看了含有约 199 名青少年的 MySpace 曲线图。他们自称年龄都在 18 至 20 岁之间，且都讨论过高危险行为的话题。 

One of the researchers was Megan Moreno, now at the University of Wisconsin . Doctor Moreno sent a message to half the young people. Her e-mail suggested that they change their profiles. She also warned them about the risk of sharing personal information. 

Megan Moreno 是其中的一位研究人员，目前就职 Wisconsin 大学。 Moreno 博士给这199 名中一半的青少年发送了信息，邮件里她建议他们要改变自己的形象，并告诫他们在网络世界里分享私人信息的危险性。 

About fourteen percent of those receiving the e-mail removed information on sexual behavior. Among individuals who did not receive a message, about five percent later removed such information. 

收到邮件的那些人中有大约 14% 的人删除了关于性行为的信息。而那些没有受到邮件的人中有约 5% 后来也删除了此类信息。 

In the United States , about half of all young people use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. 

在美国，大约有一半的青少年使用像 MySpace 和 Facebook 这样的网络社区。 

Doctor Dimitri Christakis at Seattle Children's Hospital worked on the research. He says parents have a responsibility to know what their children are doing on the Internet. 

目前就职于西雅图儿童医院的 Dimitri Christakis 博士参与过这个研究活动，并指出家长有责任了解自己的孩子在网络上的动向。 

On February third, the top law enforcement officials in Connecticut and North Carolina announced some news about MySpace. MySpace told them it has identified and removed about ninety thousand registered sex offenders from its site in the last two years. These people were found guilty of crimes that require them to be publicly listed as sex offenders. The number is forty thousand more than MySpace has reported in the past. 

2 月 3 日， 康涅狄格州和北卡罗来纳州的 法律执行官员发布了一些关于 MySpace 的消息。 MySpace 负责人告诉法律执行官员，近 2 年他们已经识别了约 9 万名注册的性罪犯，并已将他们清除出网络社区。这些人被发现了犯罪行为且被公开列入性罪犯名单，人数为 4 万超过 MySpace 以前报道的数量。 

The officials in Connecticut and North Carolina lead a group of state attorneys general who are seeking to make social networks safer. Connecticut 's Richard Blumenthal said many other offenders may be using sites under false names and ages. A spokeswoman for North Carolina 's Roy Cooper, Noelle Talley, says Facebook has not yet answered a demand for information. 

康涅狄格州和北卡罗来纳州的官员带领一批致力于改善网络社会安全工作的州检察官。康涅狄格州的 Richard Blumenthal 称许多其他的犯罪分子可能使用虚假的姓名和年龄。北卡罗来纳州的罗伊· 库珀的女发言人， Noelle Talley 说 Facebook 还没有就此类信息要求做出回答 。 

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.