IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i14p7599-d595854.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

It’s the Content That Counts: Longitudinal Associations between Social Media Use, Parental Monitoring, and Alcohol Use in an Australian Sample of Adolescents Aged 13 to 16 Years

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Smout

    (The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Cath Chapman

    (The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Marius Mather

    (Sydney Informatics Hub, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2008, Australia)

  • Tim Slade

    (The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Maree Teesson

    (The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Nicola Newton

    (The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

(1) Background: More time spent on social media has been linked to increased alcohol use, with exposure to peer alcohol-related content on social media (content exposure) named as a critical factor in this relationship. Little is currently known about whether early content exposure may have lasting effects across adolescent development, or about the capacity of parental monitoring of social media use to interrupt these links. (2) Methods: These gaps were addressed in both cross-sectional and longitudinal contexts among a longitudinal sample of Australian secondary school students ( n = 432) across the ages of 13–16. (3) Results: Evidence was found for links between social media use and alcohol use frequency in early development. Social media time at age 13 was significantly associated with concurrent alcohol use frequency. At age 13, alcohol use frequency was significantly higher among those who reported content exposure compared to those who reported no exposure. Longitudinally, the frequency of alcohol use over time increased at a faster rate among participants who reported content exposure at age 13. In terms of parental monitoring, no longitudinal effects were observed. However, parental monitoring at age 13 did significantly reduce the concurrent relationship between alcohol use frequency and content exposure. (4) Conclusion: The impact of social media content exposure on alcohol use in adolescence may be more important than the time spent on social media, and any protective effect of parental monitoring on content exposure may be limited to the time it is being concurrently enacted.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Smout & Cath Chapman & Marius Mather & Tim Slade & Maree Teesson & Nicola Newton, 2021. "It’s the Content That Counts: Longitudinal Associations between Social Media Use, Parental Monitoring, and Alcohol Use in an Australian Sample of Adolescents Aged 13 to 16 Years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7599-:d:595854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7599/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7599/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amy Orben & Andrew K. Przybylski, 2019. "The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 173-182, February.
    2. Megan A. Moreno & Jon D’Angelo & Jennifer Whitehill, 2016. "Social Media and Alcohol: Summary of Research, Intervention Ideas and Future Study Directions," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 50-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Omar Hegazi & Samer Alalalmeh & Ahmad Alfaresi & Soheil Dashtinezhad & Ahmed Bahada & Moyad Shahwan & Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun & Tesleem K. Babalola & Haya Yasin, 2022. "Development, Validation, and Utilization of a Social Media Use and Mental Health Questionnaire among Middle Eastern and Western Adults: A Pilot Study from the UAE," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-18, November.
    2. Gülsen Erden & Asil Ali Özdoğru & Sami Çoksan & Hale Ögel-Balaban & Yakup Azak & İlkiz Altınoğlu-Dikmeer & Aysun Ergül-Topçu & Yeşim Yasak & Gözde Kıral-Uçar & Seda Oktay & Pelin Karaca-Dinç & Ezgi Di, 2022. "Social Contact, Academic Satisfaction, COVID-19 Knowledge, and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2017-2039, August.
    3. Fangmin Gong & Zhaowen Lei & Zhuliu Gong & Hewei Min & Pu Ge & Yi Guo & Wai-Kit Ming & Xinying Sun & Yibo Wu, 2022. "The Role of Family Health in Mediating the Association between Smartphone Use and Health Risk Behaviors among Chinese Adolescent Students: A National Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Amy Orben & Andrew K. Przybylski & Sarah-Jayne Blakemore & Rogier A. Kievit, 2022. "Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Vowels Matthew J., 2024. "Typical Yet Unlikely and Normally Abnormal: The Intuition Behind High-Dimensional Statistics," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 87-113, March.
    6. Xiao, ZhiMin, 2017. "Of young people and Internet cafés," SocArXiv 2d8rz, Center for Open Science.
    7. Schneider, Sebastian O. & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Higher Order Risk Preferences: Experimental Measures, Determinants and Related Field Behavior," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224643, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland & Viktor Schønning & Bodil Elisabeth Valstad Aasan & Randi Træland Hella & Jens Christoffer Skogen, 2021. "Pupils’ Use of Social Media and Its Relation to Mental Health from a School Personnel Perspective: A Preliminary Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Ahmad, Amal, 2022. "Imperfect information and learning: Evidence from cotton cultivation in Pakistan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 176-204.
    10. Nate Breznau & Eike Mark Rinke & Alexander Wuttke & Hung H. V. Nguyen & Muna Adem & Jule Adriaans & Amalia Alvarez-Benjumea & Henrik K. Andersen & Daniel Auer & Flavio Azevedo & Oke Bahnsen & Dave Bal, 2022. "Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(44), pages 2203150119-, November.
    11. Herrero, Juan & Rodríguez, Francisco J. & Urueña, Alberto, 2023. "Use of smartphone apps for mobile communication and social digital pressure: A longitudinal panel study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    12. Cecilia M. S. Ma, 2022. "Relationships between Social Networking Sites Use and Self-Esteem: The Moderating Role of Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.
    13. Aaron Haddock & Nadia Ward & Rondy Yu & Nicole O’Dea, 2022. "Positive Effects of Digital Technology Use by Adolescents: A Scoping Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Lieberman, Alicea & Schroeder, Juliana & Amir, On, 2022. "A voice inside my head: The psychological and behavioral consequences of auditory technologies," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    15. Semken, Christoph & Rossell, David, 2020. "Bayesian Specification Curve Analysis," OSF Preprints cahyq, Center for Open Science.
    16. Sauerwein, Markus N. & Rees, Gwyther, 2020. "How children spend their out-of-school time – A comparative view across 14 countries," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Daniel Falla & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz & Eva M. Romera, 2021. "Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Transition from Cybergossip to Cyberaggression: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    18. Aviana O. Rosen & Ashley L. Holmes & Nekane Balluerka & Maria Dolores Hidalgo & Arantxa Gorostiaga & Juana Gómez-Benito & Tania B. Huedo-Medina, 2022. "Is Social Media a New Type of Social Support? Social Media Use in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-20, March.
    19. Chantie Charissa Luijten & Daphne Bongardt & Anna Petra Nieboer, 2022. "The Roles of Social Media Use and Friendship Quality in Adolescents’ Internalizing Problems and Well-being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3161-3178, October.
    20. Pedro Bação & Marta Simões, 0. "Is the Welfare State Relevant for Economic Growth? Evidence for Portugal," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 0, pages 1-27.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7599-:d:595854. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.