Rakhi Vashishtha1, John Holmes2, Amy Pennay3, Paul M Dietze4, Michael Livingston5. 1. Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. Electronic address: 19254915@students.latrobe.edu.au. 2. School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. 3. Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. 4. National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Australia; School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Behaviours and Health Risks Program, Burnet Institute, Australia. 5. Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Australia; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent alcohol consumption has been declining in many high-income countries since the turn of this century. Research investigating the plausible explanations for these declines has been mostly based on individual-level studies, which are largely inconclusive. Changes in leisure time internet use and computer gaming (referred to in this article as 'computer activities') have been hypothesised to play a role in declining adolescent alcohol consumption at a country-level. The aim of this study was to examine the association between country-level changes over time in computer activities and adolescent drinking in 33 European countries. METHODS: This is a multi-level repeated cross-national study examining the role of changes over time in country-level and individual-level computer activities on regular drinking. We utilised four waves of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD) from 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. At an individual-level the primary exposure of interest was daily engagement in computer activities and aggregated means were used to measure country-level daily computer activities in each included country. Data were analysed using three-level hierarchical linear probability methods. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted model, for between individual effects, we found significant positive association between daily computer activities and regular drinking (β = 0.043, p-value <0.001 and 95% CI = 0.033-0.054). However, at a country-level, we did not find any association between within-country changes in daily computer activities and regular drinking (β = 0.031, p-value = 0.652 and 95% CI = -0.103-0.164. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study suggest that broad cultural shifts towards increased computer-based activities among adolescents has played a little or no role in declining adolescent drinking. Future research should be directed towards examining other high-level cultural changes which may have influenced cross-national reductions in adolescent drinking.
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent alcohol consumption has been declining in many high-income countries since the turn of this century. Research investigating the plausible explanations for these declines has been mostly based on individual-level studies, which are largely inconclusive. Changes in leisure time internet use and computer gaming (referred to in this article as 'computer activities') have been hypothesised to play a role in declining adolescent alcohol consumption at a country-level. The aim of this study was to examine the association between country-level changes over time in computer activities and adolescent drinking in 33 European countries. METHODS: This is a multi-level repeated cross-national study examining the role of changes over time in country-level and individual-level computer activities on regular drinking. We utilised four waves of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD) from 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. At an individual-level the primary exposure of interest was daily engagement in computer activities and aggregated means were used to measure country-level daily computer activities in each included country. Data were analysed using three-level hierarchical linear probability methods. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted model, for between individual effects, we found significant positive association between daily computer activities and regular drinking (β = 0.043, p-value <0.001 and 95% CI = 0.033-0.054). However, at a country-level, we did not find any association between within-country changes in daily computer activities and regular drinking (β = 0.031, p-value = 0.652 and 95% CI = -0.103-0.164. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study suggest that broad cultural shifts towards increased computer-based activities among adolescents has played a little or no role in declining adolescent drinking. Future research should be directed towards examining other high-level cultural changes which may have influenced cross-national reductions in adolescent drinking.
Authors: Gabriel Caluzzi; Michael Livingston; John Holmes; Sarah MacLean; Dan I Lubman; Paul Dietze; Rakhi Vashishtha; Rachel Herring; Amy Pennay Journal: Addiction Date: 2022-02-28 Impact factor: 7.256
Authors: Abigail K Stevely; Rakhi Vashishtha; Hannah Fairbrother; Laura Fenton; Madeleine Henney; Michael Livingston; John Holmes Journal: Eur J Public Health Date: 2022-06-01 Impact factor: 4.424