Prospective association between screen use modalities and substance use experimentation in early adolescents.
Jason M Nagata, Joan Shim, Patrick Low, Kyle T Ganson, Alexander Testa, Jinbo He, Glenn-Milo Santos, Claire D Brindis, Fiona C Baker, Iris Y Shao
Author Information
Jason M Nagata: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address: jason.nagata@ucsf.edu.
Joan Shim: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Patrick Low: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Kyle T Ganson: Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1V4, Canada.
Alexander Testa: Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 7000 Fannin St, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Jinbo He: Division of Applied Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001 Longxiang Boulevard, Longgang District, Shenzhen 518172, China.
Glenn-Milo Santos: Department of Community Health Systems, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, 2 Koret Way, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Claire D Brindis: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 490 Illinois St, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Fiona C Baker: Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, Menlo Park, 333 Ravenswood Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA; School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Ave, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2017, South Africa.
Iris Y Shao: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
BACKGROUND: There are limited large-scale, prospective analyses examining contemporary screen use and substance use experimentation in early adolescents. The current study aimed to determine associations between eight forms of contemporary screen modalities and substance use experimentation one year later in a national cohort of 11-12-year-olds in the United States. METHODS: The sample consisted of 8006 early adolescents (47.9 % female and 41.6 % racial/ethnic minority) from the prospective cohort data of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the prospective associations between screen time (eight different types and total) in Year 2 and substance use experimentation (alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, any substance use) in Year 3, adjusting for covariates and Year 2 substance use experimentation. RESULTS: Total screen time was prospectively associated with alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis experimentation. Each additional hour spent on social media (AOR 1.20; 95 % CI 1.14-1.26), texting (AOR 1.18; 95 % CI 1.12-1.24), and video chatting (AOR 1.09; 95 % CI 1.03-1.16) was associated with higher odds of any substance experimentation. Social media use and texting were also associated with higher odds of alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine experimentation; however, television/movies, videos, video games, and the internet were not. Moreover, video chatting was associated with higher odds of cannabis and nicotine experimentation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that digital social connections, such as via social media, texting, and video chatting, are the contemporary screen modalities that are associated with early adolescent substance experimentation. Future research could explore the mechanisms underlying these associations to inform intervention strategies.
