Mobile phone ownership, social media use, and substance use at ages 11-13 in the ABCD study

There is ongoing concern about the impact of increasing use of social media and digital devices on unhealthy behaviors such as substance use in youth. Mobile phone and social media use have been associated with substance use in adolescent and young adult samples, but few studies have evaluated these relationships in younger samples.

This secondary analysis of data drawn from the ABCD Study examined associations between youth-reported mobile phone ownership and social media use at age 11-12 and use of alcohol, nicotine/tobacco, and cannabis over the next 18 months.

Longitudinal logistic regression was used to test the hypothesis that phone ownership and social media use at age 11-12 would predict substance use over time. Phone ownership was associated with greater odds of alcohol and nicotine/tobacco use, and social media use was associated with greater odds of using nicotine/tobacco and cannabis.

These findings suggest that pre-teen youth who own mobile phones and those who use social media may be at greater risk for substance use. Further research is needed to specify mechanisms by which this association occurs and thus inform prevention and intervention efforts.