The relationship between patterns of using internet, media literacy, alcohol consumption and drug abuse: a case of Malaysian youths

Abstract

The concerning statistics regarding alcohol consumption and substance abuse among young individuals in Malaysia necessitate endeavors to comprehend this occurrence. The aim of the current research was to ascertain the correlations between media literacy, Internet usage patterns, alcohol intake, and drug misuse among Malaysian youths. A quantitative research approach was employed to collect data from 440 students at University Putra Malaysia through a method of stratified random sampling. The findings of the investigation indicated that the association between media literacy and alcohol consumption was statistically significant (p=0.017), whereas it was deemed insignificant for drug consumption (p=0.90). Notably, no statistically significant connections were found between the two dimension of Internet usage patterns and alcohol intake (p=0.22, p=0.54) or drug use (p=0.41, p=0.48). Nevertheless, the link between Internet usage patterns and media literacy was found to be significant (p=0.00). Additionally, outcomes from the independent t-test displayed that male participants exhibited higher levels of drug and alcohol usage compared to their female counterparts (p=0.00, p=0.045). Significant mean disparities were also observed between drug consumption and gender. The outcomes of the one-way ANOVA revealed notable mean differences between ethnic groups and alcohol consumption (p=0.00), while no mean differences were identified between ethnic groups and drug usage (p=0.82). The implications of this  study are also deliberated.