Assessing preliminary associations between high-risk youth substance use and problematic Internet use subtypes using Facebook-based web survey
Embargo Date
2024-02-16
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Problematic internet use (PIU) is defined as internet use that is uncontrollable and will often lead to significant impairment or distress in some individuals. There has been significant evidence that has shown the association between PIU and substance use. For example, adolescents with increased social media time were at an increased risk to use alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. There are also neurobiological similarities between PIU and substance use disorder, such as increased activation in brain regions associated with reward, addiction, and craving. However, there is little known regarding the specific nature of the association between digital media habits of adolescents and young adults and substance use disorder. This study aims to 1) to explore the relationship between PIU and high-risk substance use; 2) to determine whether specific types of digital media use are more associated with high-risk substance use; 3) to determine possible relationships between high-risk substance use and exposure to substance-related digital media content, and 4) to explore types of substance use associated with digital media use. The study recruited 326 adolescents and young adults, ages 13-25, through a REDCap survey via a survey link administered through Facebook advertising. Targeting parameters that were relevant to substance use were used to target substance-using youth. The REDCap survey included four sub-surveys assessing digital media habits, problematic internet use, and substance use (8-question qualitative digital media use assessments, PIU-SF-6, DAST-A, and NM-ASSIST, respectively). Digital media subtypes were determined by the participant’s most used form of digital media. High-risk substance use was determined by the DAST-A scores and NM-ASSIST substance involvement (SI) scores. 44.5% of the records obtained from the REDCap data collection dashboard were considered to be complete. We did not find a significant relationship between PIU and high-risk substance use, based on PIU scores and DAST-A scores. However, we found that participants who spend more than 9+ hours had a significantly higher DAST-A score compared to participants who spend less than 9 hours online (p = 0.016). Individuals who use digital media for gaming had a significantly lower DAST-A score (p = 0.014). They also had lower SI scores for cannabis, methamphetamines, inhalants, sedatives, hallucinogens, and street opioids. Participants who spend most of their digital media use surfing the internet had significantly higher DAST-A scores (p = 0.046), as well as higher cannabis SI scores (p = 0.018). Lastly, participants who most frequently used digital media to communicate with others had significantly higher prescription opioid SI scores (p = 0.002). The preliminary findings suggest that there may be a significant association between specific types of digital media use and high-risk substance for participants who chose gaming as their most used form of digital media. There is also a suggested link between individuals who surf the internet and cannabis use, and individuals who frequently use digital media to communicate with others and prescription opioid use. Limitations of this study include a small sample size and restrictions by Facebook advertising. Recommendations for future research include replication of this study with a larger substance-using youth sample.