The reciprocal associations between sharing alcohol references on social networking sites and binge drinking: A longitudinal study among late adolescents

Abstract

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.

Identifying At-Risk Youth

“…We aimed to assess for which subgroups alcoholrelated communication on social media can be used to identify potential risky drinking behaviour. Extending prior research (D'Angelo et al, 2014;Geusens & Beullens, 2017bRidout et al, 2012), this study found that individuals who share alcohol references on social media more frequently have stronger drinking intentions. Although the present study cannot make any causal claims due to its cross-sectional nature, our findings suggest that -at least for the average college student -self-sharing alcohol references can be related to intentions to engage in (heavy) drinking behaviour.…”

“…Thus, taken together, we can expect that sharing alcohol references more often is associated with greater intentions to consume alcohol (Hypothesis 1). Considering prior longitudinal data that demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between sharing alcohol references and binge drinking (Geusens & Beullens, 2017b) and the cross-sectional nature of the present study, this association between sharing alcohol references on social media and drinking intentions can be both indicative (i.e., drinking intentions predict self-sharing) or predictive (i.e., self-sharing predicts drinking intentions).…”

“…Theoretically, it has been argued that content creators can internalize their online selfpresentation (Bem, 1972;Valkenburg, 2017): By presenting themselves as people who enjoy drinking alcohol, individuals can unconsciously persuade themselves that this is part of who they are, which can result in increased alcohol consumption. It has already been demonstrated that the more someone engages in heavy drinking behaviour, the more alcohol references they share (Geusens & Beullens, 2017b). By sharing more alcohol references, they simultaneously increase their engagement in heavy drinking behaviour.…”

“…Overall, it appears that most of the alcohol references shared online are derived from real-life drinking experiences, thus reflecting offline drinking behaviours (Hebden et al, 2015;Hendriks et al, 2017). Nevertheless, sharing such online alcohol-related references has been shown to affect future alcohol consumption as well (D'Angelo et al, 2014;Geusens & Beullens, 2017b;Moreno et al, 2013). Theoretically, it has been argued that content creators can internalize their online selfpresentation (Bem, 1972;Valkenburg, 2017): By presenting themselves as people who enjoy drinking alcohol, individuals can unconsciously persuade themselves that this is part of who they are, which can result in increased alcohol consumption.…”

Collegiate Binge Drinking and Social Media Use Among Hispanics and Non-Hispanics

“…Problematic social media use may negatively affect psychosocial functioning (Tsitsika et al, 2014) and may increase risk of problem drinking, particularly when content is alcohol related (D'Angelo et al, 2014;Geusens & Beullens, 2017;Glassman, 2012;Moreno et al, 2012;Ridout et al, 2012;Thompson & Romo, 2016;Westgate et al, 2014). For example, Marczinski et al (2016) found that college students' alcohol-related Facebook activity (e.g., written postings or photos/images depicting alcohol) predicted hazardous drinking.…”