The association between social network members sharing alcohol‐related social media content and alcohol outcomes among college student drinkers

Abstract

Background: College-aged young adults (e.g., 18 to 29-year-olds) use social media more than any other age group. An emerging body of literature shows that higher exposure to alcohol-related social media content is associated with greater alcohol consumption among college students. However, most studies assess exposure to peer drinking on social media using global measures, rather than measuring the exposure to alcohol-related posts of identified specific close peers. We examined whether having a higher proportion of important peers (i.e., social network members) who post alcohol-related social media content is associated with greater alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences. We also investigated the extent to which the qualities of network members who share alcohol-related content are associated with participants' alcohol outcomes.Methods: Participants were 130 college students (86.2% female, 56.9% White) with an average age of 23.39 years (SD = 5.63) who had consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the past week. Participants completed measures of their social media use, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related consequences, and characteristics of important peers in their social network, including their alcohol-related social media posting.Results: Having a higher proportion of social network members who post alcoholrelated social media content was positively related to participants' drinks per week and peak number of drinks. Higher network proportions of drinking buddies posting alcohol-related content were also associated with a greater frequency of alcohol use.Having a higher proportion of friends who post alcohol content and from whom the participants seek advice was linked to more alcohol-related consequences. Conclusions:Having more important peers who post alcohol-related content on social media is associated with alcohol outcomes among college students. Harm-reduction focused alcohol interventions delivered on college campuses that incorporate information about the influence of viewing and sharing alcohol-related content could help to reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences among students.

Following social media influencers who share alcohol‐related content is associated with college drinking

“…Yet, most ARC studies use a global approach (e.g., ARC sharing of a group [norms]), rather than a social network approach (e.g., ARC sharing of specific individuals important to the participant [15]). Only three studies to date use a social network approach to examine how exposure to ARC shared by specific friends is related to drinking outcomes [30][31][32]. Of those studies, only one assesses undergraduates [32].…”

“…Only three studies to date use a social network approach to examine how exposure to ARC shared by specific friends is related to drinking outcomes [30][31][32]. Of those studies, only one assesses undergraduates [32]. Given that undergraduates represent a population at high risk for problematic alcohol use [1][2][3][4], it is important to conduct more research to understand how social network members sharing ARC influences drinking outcomes.…”

How is substance use portrayed in digital media and what impacts can it have?

“…Influencers are often held in high regard by people who follow them and may be particularly influential as people emulate their behaviour and aspire to be more like them [14]. To measure the impact of influencer exposure, Strowger et al [12] asked participants to list the top five influencers they followed and estimate how often they post about alcohol. They found people who reported greater alcohol exposure from influencers consumed more alcohol (quantity, peak alcohol use) even when controlling for alcohol exposure from close peers.…”

“…Reflecting the wider literature [10], four papers in the special section provide an affirmative “yes” for the link between self‐reported exposure to substance use on social media and substance use. Speaking to the robustness of the effect, the association between exposure to substance use holds across the various approaches, samples and measures of exposure [11–14]. While most previous research has focused on exposure to peers' substance use posting or substance use posting in general, three of the included studies focused on exposure to influencer alcohol posts.…”

A qualitative analysis of adolescents' perspectives on peer and influencer alcohol‐related posts on social media

“…Strong evidence exists that alcohol‐related social media posts by peers [7–9] and influencers [10, 11] are prevalent and influential. While recent qualitative and quantitative research has explored adolescent exposure to and perception of peer [12] and influencer alcohol content [13, 14], none have directly compared adolescent perceptions of peer versus influencer posts.…”