Compared with their counterparts in the bottom tertile of MII, students in the top tertile were significantly more likely to fall into the alcohol risk group in unadjusted analysis (odds ratio 6.01) and also in analyses that adjusted for age (OR 4.9) and for race (OR 5.2).
Similarly, students with a top-tertile MII were significantly more likely to fall into the current drinker group in unadjusted analysis (OR 6.6) and in analyses adjusting for age (OR 4.6), time with friends (OR 4.6), parental media monitoring (OR 4.9), and minutes spent listening to music (OR 4.3).
Additional analyses showed that potential confounders that might influence both media use and alcohol use, such as anxiety disorders, did not explain the observed associations, according to Mr. Ross.
Might it be possible, a person in attendance asked, that adolescents spending more time using media also are spending less time developing social skills and building supportive family relationships that could be protective in this context?
"The simple answer is, this is a very complex, changing dynamic right now," Mr. Ross replied. "What we are hypothesizing is that kids are getting a chance to experiment much more rapidly and get feedback much more rapidly on different kinds of identities through these media, and that can lead to higher-risk behaviors and an acceleration of a lot of other factors.
"We hope to explore prospective associations between the MII and a number of outcomes in future research," he concluded, including sexual activity, use of tobacco and other substances, and personal injury from high-risk activities.
Mr. Ross reported that he had no relevant conflicts of interest.