The present study has two main objectives. First, to examine how alcohol use is portrayed in the visual and textual references on Facebook, and second, to determine how friends react to these alcohol-related postings. A theoretically based content analysis of 160 Facebook profiles generated 2,575 pictures and 92 status updates referring to alcohol use, which represented about 6.50% of the pictures in the total sample and 2.90% of the status updates. These visual and textual references, as well as the peer reactions to these posts, mostly referred to alcohol use in a positive context (72.23% of the pictures and 72.83% of the messages). Furthermore, multiple regression analyses identified the number of Facebook friends and the number of status updates referring to alcohol use as significant predictors of the total number of uploaded pictures containing alcohol use. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of expectancy models of behavior and media effects theories, and show that alcohol-related references are quite common, while negative reactions to these posts are seldom. Further research into the effects of these visual and textual messages is warranted.

Abstract. Both consuming alcohol and using social networking sites (SNS) are popular pastimes among adolescents. The current cross-sectional study (N = 3,133) aims to explore the relation between being exposed to and displaying alcohol-related content on SNS with alcohol abuse among adolescents aged 16–20 years. First, the results support that displaying alcohol-related content on SNS is more strongly associated with alcohol abuse than exposure to this kind of content. Furthermore, the associations of both exposure to and displaying alcohol-related content on SNS with alcohol abuse are mediated through perceived social norms of friends and attitudes toward excessive alcohol consumption. Yet, whereas alcohol-related attitudes and social norms seemed to be equally important mediators in the relation between exposure to alcohol-related content on SNS and alcohol abuse, the association between displaying alcohol-related content on SNS and alcohol abuse seemed to be mediated predominantly through a change in alcohol-related attitudes. Overall, this study sheds more light on the complex relations between SNS use and risky drinking behavior among adolescents.

Accumulating evidence indicates that social media use and the consumption of alcohol are related. The present longitudinal study (N=1006) adds to this line of research by examining the reciprocity of sharing alcohol references on social media and binge drinking among late adolescents (age 16-20 at baseline). The results indicate that binge drinking and alcohol-related self-presentation affect each other simultaneously over time. However, no support was found for the proposition that the perceived feedback of peers can strengthen this relationship, nor did we find a direct association between the perceived feedback of peers and alcohol-related self-presentation one year later. Overall, the results suggest that binge drinking and alcoholrelated self-presentation on social media should be studied as tied behaviors, affecting each other simultaneously over time.

This article reports the results of a mobile phone use validation survey in which we compared self-reported mobile phone use to network provider data, and examined the observed discrepancies between both data sources in a convenience sample of 466 Flemish mobile phone users (18–65 years). The results showed significant discrepancies between self-reported and behavioral mobile phone use, particularly for the number and duration of mobile calls. Light users tended to overestimate, while heavy users tended to underestimate their mobile phone use. Females were more likely to underestimate their weekly number of calls. Younger adults were more accurate in reporting their weekly number of calls, but less accurate in reporting their weekly number of text messages. The discussion devotes particular attention to potential question wording effects that are likely to have influenced the results.

Visiting social networking sites has become an important part of adolescents' leisure activities. The current cross-sectional survey (n = 674) of adolescents aged 13-16 years aimed to examine a conditional process model on the relationships between adolescents' use of social networking sites and their descriptive /injunctive peer norms, attitudes, and intentions regarding alcohol use. First, the results support that exposure to alcohol-related content on social networking sites predicts respondents' descriptive and injunctive norms on alcohol use. Adolescents who are more frequently exposed to alcohol-related content believe that a higher number of their friends consume alcohol and that this use is socially acceptable. These descriptive and injunctive norms were positively associated with adolescents' drinking intentions. Second, the results support that the relationship between injunctive norms and intentions is stronger for respondents being more frequently exposed to alcohol-related messages on Facebook. Overall, the results shed more light on the complex associations between social networking sites, alcohol use, and the role of peers in this relationship.

This study examined the relations of children's tablet use and parents' mediation of children's tablet use with parent-child conflict about such use. A sample of 364 parents of children aged 2-10 years was used to investigate the relations. The results showed that children who spent more time using the tablet had more conflicts with their parents. Also, children who received high amounts of restrictive mediation had more conflicts with their parents about the tablet. Children who often co-used the tablet with their parents had less conflict, however. Significant two-way interactions indicated that while restrictive mediation increased the strength of the relationship between tablet use and conflict, co-use decreased the strength of the relationship.

Results BAS drive was positively associated with daily intakes of SSBs (13.79 %, p < 0.01), unhealthy snacks (5.42 %, p < 0.001), and energy and nutrients derived from SSBs (p < 0.001) and snacks (p < 0.01). BAS reward responsiveness (RR) was only positively associated with intake of unhealthy snacks (3.85 %, p < 0.05), healthy snacks (6.41 %, p < 0.05), and fat (4.05 %, p < 0.01) and Na (3.89 %, p < 0.05) from snacks. Interaction effects of gender and BAS RR (p < 0.05) were found. Significant positive associations between BAS RR and daily intakes of energy from snacks (6.48 %, p < 0.01) and fat from snacks (7.22 %, p < 0.001) were found only for girls. Conclusion SR was associated with snack and SSB consumption in adolescents, especially in girls. These findings suggest that SR should be taken into account when designing interventions to improve the snack and SSB intake of adolescents.

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