Role of online communities in young adults' (YA) alcohol and other drug use (AOD): Examining the relationship between AOD and permissive norms within YA's online networks

Background: Youth who interact in networks with higher concentrations of AOD use are more likely to use drugs than those with less AOD density in their social networks. With the advent of online network technologies, YAs are now able to communicate more frequently without concern of proximity and/or synchronicity. Online interactions with peers may reinforce or escalate AOD use due to more frequent and continuous exposure to AOD promotive norms; however, the influence of YA's virtual networks on AOD remains untested.

Methods: Using an adapted web-version of Respondent-Driven Sampling (webRDS), we recruited a sample of U.S. YA (ages 18 to 24; N=3,400). As part of the web-survey, participants answered questions regarding their AOD use (e.g., alcohol & marijuana in past 30 days), online community norms regarding AOD use, peer substance use, online and offline peer support, and sociodemographic characteristics. Using multivariate regression, we explored the relationship between the constructs above and YA's alcohol and marijuana use in the past 30 days.

Results: Alcohol use was related to permissive alcohol norms within their online networks, peer AOD use, and higher density of alcohol use within their online networks. Marijuana use was associated with the density of marijuana use within online networks and peer AOD use, and negatively related to YA's perceptions that acknowledging drugs online could have damaging consequences. Online and offline support were not related to AOD use.

Conclusions: We discuss our findings and highlight the importance of promoting online network-based AOD prevention programs for YAs in the United States.