Social Media Use and Alcohol Sipping in Early Adolescents: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Background

Social media can influence alcohol initiation behaviors such as sipping, which can lead to future adverse alcohol-related outcomes. Few studies have examined the role of problematic social media use, characterized by addiction, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse, especially in early adolescence.

Objective

To examine the prospective association between social media use and sipping alcohol in a nationwide sample of early adolescents, and the extent to which problematic social media use mediates the association.

Methods

We analyzed prospective data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 7514; ages 9–10 years at baseline; 2016–2018) to estimate associations between social media time (Year 1) and alcohol sipping (Year 3) using modified Poisson regression, adjusting for confounders and testing problematic social media use (Year 2) as a mediator.

Results

Social media time (Year 1) was prospectively associated with 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.20–1.43) times higher risk of new-onset sipping (Year 3). The association between social media time and new-onset alcohol sipping was partially mediated by problematic social media use at Year 2 (25.0% reduction in the association between the former two factors after adding problematic social media use, p = 0.002).

Conclusions

Time spent on social media was associated with a higher risk of alcohol sipping in a diverse national sample of early adolescents, and the association was partially mediated by problematic social media use. Media literacy education and family media use plans could advise early adolescents about exposure to alcohol content on social media and warning signs for problematic use.

Keywords:

• Social media
• alcohol
• sipping
• adolescent
• substance use

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Levi Cervantez, Zain Memon, and Anthony Kung for their editorial assistance. A full list of supporters is available at https://abcdstudy.org/nihcollaborators. A listing of participating sites and a complete listing of the study investigators can be found at https://abcdstudy.org/principal-investigators.html. ABCD consortium investigators designed and implemented the study and/or provided data but did not necessarily participate in the analysis or writing of this report. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

Data availability statement

Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the ABCD Study (https://abcdstudy.org), held in the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). Investigators can apply for data access through the NDA (https://nda.nih.gov/).

Additional information

Funding

J.M.N. was funded by the National Institutes of Health (K08HL159350 and R01MH135492) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2022056). The ABCD Study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Maryland) and additional federal partners under award numbers U01DA041022, U01DA041025, U01DA041028, U01DA041048, U01DA041089, U01DA041093, U01DA041106, U01DA041117, U01DA041120, U01DA041134, U01DA041148, U01DA041156, U01DA041174, U24DA041123, and U24DA041147.