Longitudinal pathways between adolescent social media use and substance use: Informing evidence-based guidance

University Of California, San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. Adolescence is an important period for both social media exposure and substance use experimentation. By age 18, 84% of adolescents are social media users, and emerging evidence suggests that social media use may contribute to substance use. However, the mechanisms linking social media and substance use remain unclear, with significant knowledge gaps around patterns of use, sensitive developmental windows, and protective parenting strategies. This project aims to address these gaps using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a large longitudinal cohort of 11,875 adolescents followed for over 10 years. We will explore prospective associations between social media use and substance use (cannabis, nicotine, alcohol). Our long-term goal is to provide adolescents, parents, clinicians, and policymakers with guidance on the use of social media to reduce early substance use. Our central hypothesis is that social media use is prospectively associated with early substance use through problematic social media use patterns (measured by the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire) and positive substance use expectancies (favorable beliefs about substance use), while, in contrast, media parenting rules/monitoring can be protective. We propose the following specific aims: Aim 1: Determine longitudinal associations and sensitive windows linking social media use with substance use. Aim 2: Identify mechanisms linking social media use and substance use. Aim 3: Identify media parenting rules and monitoring that protect from substance use. To accomplish these aims, we will leverage comprehensive assessments of social media use and substance use among a large national prospective cohort, beginning in early adolescence in the ABCD Study followed annually for 10 years. The cohort uniquely starts before adolescence to capture the onset of social media use and substance experimentation from early to late adolescence, spanning important developmental periods. We will use robust longitudinal and structural equation modeling methods to analyze all available years of existing data in the ABCD Study. We will disseminate and translate findings to inform guidance for adolescents, parents, clinicians, and policymakers.