Internet Use and Adolescent Binge Drinking: Findings from the Monitoring the Future Study

To investigate the relation between Internet use and binge drinking during early and middle adolescence.

This is a cross-sectional study of a sub-sample of 8^th and 10^th graders from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, which annually surveys a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth on their attitudes, behaviors, and values. This study includes data from 21,170 8^th and 24,362 10^th graders who participated between 2007 and 2012 and were asked questions about Internet use and binge drinking.

In fully adjusted models, we found a dose response relation between hours of recreational Internet use (i.e. outside work or school) and binge drinking which was stronger for 8^th than 10^th graders. Compared to <1 h of Internet use per week, odds ratios estimates for 1-5 h/week, 6-19 h/week, and 20 or more h/week were 1.24 (99% CI: 0.85, 1.82), 1.83 (1.28, 2.61), and 2.78 (1.99, 3.87) for 8^th graders, respectively. For 10^th graders, this same association was attenuated [estimated OR=1.06 (99% CI: 0.96, 1.16); 1.20 (1.03, 1.40); and 1.30 (1.07, 1.58), respectively].

Drawing on a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth, we find a significant, dose-response relation between Internet use and binge drinking. This relation was stronger in 8^th graders versus 10^th graders. Given that alcohol is the most abused substance among adolescents and binge drinking confers many health risks, longitudinal studies designed to examine the mediators of this relation are necessary to inform binge drinking prevention strategies, which may have greater impact if targeted at younger adolescents.