Exploring College Students’ Use of General and Alcohol-Related Social Media and Their Associations With Alcohol-Related Behaviors

Abstract

Students' use of alcohol-related social media-marketing content associates with their problem drinking. Results have implications for alcohol abuse reduction efforts targeted at college students and suggest the importance of considering social, cultural, and cognitive factors in campaign planning and design.

The commercial use of digital media to market alcohol products: a narrative review

“…Four of the studies [14][15][16][17] used individual interviews to estimate recognition of digital marketing and selfreported alcohol consumption patterns. Three of the four studies were limited to youth aged less than 21 years, and of these, two were restricted to children aged less than 17 years.…”

The Myriad Influences of Alcohol Advertising on Adolescent Drinking

“…Thus, examining whether these shifts equate to actual changes in drinking behaviors is important. Hoffman and colleagues [55, 56] utilized cross-sectional data from a large sample of college students and found that students‘ use of alcohol-marketing social media on Facebook and Twitter was a significant predictor of drinking frequency, drinks per drinking day and problem drinking, whereas general social media use was not. However, it may be that drinkers are more likely than abstainers to seek out alcohol-related social media sites.…”

“…Cross-sectional surveys are widely utilized to examine relations between alcohol marketing exposure and alcohol use and rely on self-reported exposure and outcome measures [55, 56, 58, 59]. Specifically, these studies have been utilized due to their cost-effective and efficient nature while also allowing for large sample sizes.…”

Potential youth exposure to alcohol advertising on the internet: a study of internet versions of popular television programs

“…Most of the existing research on internet alcohol advertising has examined alcohol company web sites (Carroll & Donovan, 2002; Center for Media Education, 1997, 1999; Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2004; Chester et al, 2010; Federal Trade Commission, 1999; Gordon, 2011; Jones et al, 2014) or social media sites (Griffiths & Casswell, 2010; Hoffman et al, 2014; Jernigan & Rushman, 2014; Mart, 2009; Nhean et al, 2014; Nicholls, 2012; Winpenny et al, 2014). For example, a recent study from Australia (Jones et al, 2014) examined youth exposure to alcohol promotional content on 25 specific alcohol web sites.…”