Children who engage in daily social media use may have a greater alcohol consumption at age 17 to 18, University of Queensland research has found.
PhD student Brandon Cheng from UQ’s National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research led the study analysing data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
“We assessed the social media habits of 1,473 young people aged 12 to 13, and followed up with how it may be associated with drinking behaviours in their late teens,” Mr Cheng said.
“We found that youth who used social media every day, compared to those who did not use social media, reported experiencing more problem drinking later on.
“This includes events like alcohol-related trouble, injuries and fights.
“Young people who engaged in infrequent or more social media use were also more likely to initiate drinking at a younger age than those who did not use social media.”
“Our research reiterates the potential influence social media has on young people’s exposure and attitudes towards alcohol consumption, and the need for stronger regulations on platforms.”
Previous research has found 54 to 64 per cent of substance-related videos on social media positively portray substance use.
Many of these videos are sponsored by multi-national alcohol and tobacco companies, paying ‘influencers’ to promote products often without funding disclosures.
Mr Cheng said young people are especially vulnerable to both the social effects of social media and the physiological harms of alcohol as their brains are still at a sensitive stage of development.
“Within this age group, alcohol consumption remains one of the leading causes of unintentional injury, self-harm, sexual assault, and alcohol overdoses and death,” Mr Cheng said.
“Most young people engage with at least one social media platform, so it’s important that there are strong policies and regulations to reduce the potential impacts of problem drinking.”
The research is published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
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