True or false?
- "It is safe to take an over-the-counter medicine to help you sleep, even if you are drunk on alcohol."
- "Driving while high on THC (cannabis) is safe."
- "Using psychedelics is safe for everyone."
None of those statements is true. But young men who take a passive approach to news and information—consuming whatever flows over their social media transoms—were likely to believe them in a national survey conducted by Washington State University researchers.
And because young men are also more likely than others to misuse prescription drugs like Adderall or take intoxicants generally, the study suggests that creating gender-specific interventions to improve media literacy are needed.
That is a key finding from new research published this month in the journal Substance Use & Misuse. The study used a cross-sectional national survey of 1,201 people ages 18-29, looking to evaluate whether those with "News Finds Me" attitudes are more likely to believe incorrect health claims, at a time when dubious medical information is abundant.
"Misinformation was a big problem during Covid and I think it has become a grave public health concern overall," said Hae Yeon Seo, the lead author on the paper. "I wanted to see how passive information-seeking behavior leads to misinformation beliefs around prescription drug use and how that leads to substance use behavior."
