168. Social Media and the Sexualization of a Generation: Round Up on Adolescent Health PT4

On this compelling episode of NP Pulse: The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner®️, Drs. Jessica Peck and Ashley Hodges reveal shocking trends affecting our children — and address the added risk and pressures young people face with increased exposure to social media.

Social media plays a powerful role in shaping adolescent risk-taking, especially as teen brains are still developing and highly sensitive to reward and peer validation. In this final episode of AANP’s adolescent health series, nurse practitioner (NP) experts Peck and Hodges explore how digital environments influence mental, physical and sexual health — and how clinicians and parents can respond.

By normalizing developmentally appropriate risk, avoiding fear-based approaches and using strengths-based, motivational interviewing strategies, NPs can help teens navigate social media safely and support healthier decision-making in today’s high-stakes digital world.

1.0 CE

Learning Objective

1. Describe the relationship between adolescent neurodevelopment and risk-taking behaviors, including how social media platforms amplify reward sensitivity, peer influence, and impulsive decision-making.
2. Recognize the mental, physical, and sexual health impacts of social media use in adolescents and incorporate routine screening for digital behaviors using evidence-informed frameworks such as HEADSS/SHADES.
3. Implement trauma-informed, strengths-based, and motivational interviewing strategies to engage adolescents and caregivers in developmentally appropriate, nonjudgmental conversations that support healthy social media use and overall adolescent well-being.

Learners may claim CE credit for this program through February 28, 2028.

A participation code will be provided at the end of the podcast — make sure to write this code down. Once you have listened to the podcast and have the participation code, return to this activity in the AANP CE Center. Click on the "Next Steps" button of the activity and:

1. Enter the participation code that was provided.
2. Complete the posttest.
3. Complete the overall program evaluation.

This activity is supported by AANP.