A5. Oral Session: Digital Spaces, Real Impacts: Youth, Screens, and Healthy Choices
A5.02 - Oral Session: Adolescent Polysubstance Use: The Intersection of Social Media Use Frequency and Cyberbullying
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM PST
Location: Pavilion Ballroom West, Plaza Level
Area of Responsibility: Area IV: Evaluation and Research Keywords: Alcohol and Substance Abuse@@@Child and Adolescent Health@@@Social Media, Subcompetencies: 4.3.6 Analyze data., 4.4.1 Explain how findings address the questions and/or hypotheses. Research or Practice: Research
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
By the end of the presentation, 85% of participants will be able to describe three associations between social media use, cyberbullying, and adolescent polysubstance use.
By the end of the presentation, 85% of participants will be able to identify two prevention strategies to reduce polysubstance use among adolescents.
By the end of the presentation, 85% of participants will be able to identify at least two commonly co-used substances among adolescents.
Brief Abstract Summary: Adolescents’ polysubstance use is a growing public health concern. This study examined the association between social media use frequency and adolescent polysubstance use, accounting for the role of cyberbullying. Using data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N=18,149, 47.7% female), multinomial logistic regression assessed the relationship between social media use and polysubstance use, with cyberbullying included as a covariate. Results showed adolescents using social media more than once per hour had nearly 10 times higher odds of using three types of substance (OR=9.79; 95% CI: 4.68–20.51) compared to non-social media users. Adolescents who experienced cyberbullying in the past year had four times higher odds (OR=4.06; 95% CI: 3.01–5.49) of engaging in concurrent use of three types of substance, compared with others. Future Interventions should target heavy social media users, cyberbullying victims, and address multiple substance use together.
Detailed abstract description: Background Polysubstance use among adolescents is a growing public health concern related to serious health risk. While prior research has explored the impact of social media and cyberbullying on adolescent substance use, most studies focus on individual substances. This study examined the association between social media use frequency and adolescent polysubstance use, accounting for the role of cyberbullying. Methods This study utilized data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative sample of high school students (N=18,149, 47.7% female). Descriptive analyses identified patterns of e-cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use among adolescents. Multinomial logistic regression models assessed the relationship between social media use and polysubstance use, with cyberbullying included as a covariate. Results Approximately 54.2% of participants reported engaging in substance use behaviors. Among these adolescents, nearly one in four (24.8%) reported concurrent use of all three substances. The multinomial logistic regression revealed that adolescents using social media more than once per hour had nearly 10 times higher odds of using three types of substance concurrently (OR=9.79; 95% CI: 4.68–20.51) compared to non-social media users. Adolescents who experienced cyberbullying in the past year had four times higher odds (OR=4.06; 95% CI: 3.01–5.49) of engaging in concurrent use of three substances, compared with their peers. Conclusions Social media use frequency and cyberbullying are significantly associated with adolescents’ polysubstance use behavior. Prevention strategies should prioritize frequent social media users and cyberbullying victims, as well as consider the combined effects of multiple types of substance use.
