Risky social media challenges: Young adults’ exposure, participation, and evaluations

Abstract Risky social media challenges (i.e., videos of people recording high-risk behaviors while encouraging others to do the same) are popular. This study explored young people’s exposure to, engagement in, and evaluations of, these challenges. Findings of a survey among adolescents and young adults ( N = 386; aged 16–25) revealed frequent exposure to these challenges (88.1 %), mostly carried out by unknown individuals (71.2 %) and through Instagram (61.1 %) and TikTok (58.0 %). Having participated in a challenge themselves was reported by 34.7 % of the participants, with only 10.4 % posting about it online, and 12.7 % trying to persuade others to also participate. Moreover, relatively negative evaluations (attitudes, social injunctive and descriptive norms, and behavioral intentions) of risky social media challenges were found. Taken together, the results show a discrepancy between youth evaluations of, and their actual engagements in, risky social media challenges. More research on this discrepancy is needed and prevention or regulation of this rising phenomenon with potentially harmful consequences is warranted.