Data from a long-term Australian study shows frequent social media use almost triples the odds of cannabis use.
New Australian data has linked frequent social media use to increased odds of cannabis use, with the association driven by high levels of externalising behaviours.
The study, designed to explore the underlying mechanisms in the potential relationship between social media use and cannabis use, was published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.
The Queensland-based research team used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a national long-term study tracking child development and wellbeing over time.
Over 1700 children and adolescents (and their parents) had provided responses on sociodemographic factors, mobile phone ownership, family/peer dynamics and parental/child substance use at age 12-13, social media use at age 14-15, internalising and externalising behaviours at age 16-17 and cannabis use at age 18-19.
A third of participants (34.6%) reported cannabis use at age 18-19, with cannabis use more prominent among males, adolescents from non-English speaking backgrounds and individuals whose parents had substance use problems. Frequent social media use (defined as using social media almost every day, the most intense option on the ordinal scale used to measure usage) was more common among females and adolescents living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods or urban areas.
After accounting for a variety of factors, including child sex, maternal employment, language spoken at home, parental substance use problems, parental warmth and whether the child had been a victim of bullying, the modelling observed a direct association between frequent social media use and cannabis use (odds ratio 2.85, 95% CI 1.99-4.10.
“This finding suggests that adolescents who… frequently use social media are nearly three times more likely to report cannabis use compared to those who occasionally or never use social media,” the researchers explained.
There was also an indirect association between social media and cannabis use, mediated through externalising behaviours such as hyperactivity and conduct problems (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.37). No such association existed for internalising behaviours.
“Specifically… frequent social media users showed higher levels of externalising symptoms, which in turn were significantly associated with an elevated likelihood of cannabis use,” the researchers wrote. “The mediation effect size suggests a 22% increase in the odds of cannabis use due to the pathway through externalising behaviours alone.
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The researchers said their findings were consistent with other literature, where digital platforms are thought to foster risky social norms and increase potential exposure to drug-related content, both of which could make adolescents more likely to try using illicit substances.
“The role of externalising behaviours as a mediator is consistent with Problem Behavior Theory, which posits that substance use is part of a broader syndrome of deviant behaviours. Social media use may facilitate or reinforce impulsive or aggressive tendencies, increasing the likelihood of substance experimentation,” they wrote.
“It is possible that social media-related stress does not translate directly to cannabis use through internal distress such as anxiety or depression, but rather through behavioural dysregulation, including difficulties with emotion regulation and impulse control.”
The researchers called for targeted adolescent digital and behavioural health promotion strategies that focus on impulsivity and aggression as a means of reducing the link between social media use and cannabis use.
“Digital literacy and parental engagement in adolescents’ online lives may buffer against emerging risks associated with excessive or unregulated social media use,” the concluded.
Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 24 February 2026
