Risky Behaviors, Consequence of Membership in Social Network (Case Study: Students of Payame Noor University of Gonbad-e-Kavos)

This article aims to examine the relationship between membership in social networks and the risky behaviors carried out. The research method was survey with cross-sectional design. The statistical population consisted of all undergraduate students of Payame Noor University of Gonbad-e-Kavos center with 2000 students. By using Cochran formulas, a sample of 313 students were selected using stratified random sampling. The instrument includes three questionnaires: demographic, virtual social networking questionnaire and standard risky behaviors questionnaire. Using SPSS software for data processing and analysis, the findings showed that there was no relationship between the use of virtual social network and the occurrence of risky behaviors (sexual deviation and suicide) with respect to meaningful value (0.20 for sexual deviation and 0.62 for suicide) (values less than or equal to 0.05). But in two risky behaviors of violence and drug abuse, this relationship was significant. So that the meaningful value in both behavior was 0.000. Regarding the correlation coefficient, the severity of these two low risky behaviors was moderate (for the violence variable, the coefficient is 0.39 and for the drug variable, the coefficient is 0.24). Also, the results of regression analysis showed that the type and amount of use of virtual social networks can predict the occurrence of risky behaviors.