Do you 'like' problems? The linkage between college students' interactions with alcohol-related content on social media and their alcohol-related problems.

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol-related content (ARC) on social media and drinking motives impact college students' drinking. Most studies have examined peer-generated ARC on drinking outcomes but have yet to extend this relationship to other sources of influence. The current study explores the link between drinking motives, alcohol company ARC, celebrity ARC, and alcohol-related problems among college students. METHODS: Students (N = 454) from two US universities completed a cross-sectional online survey assessing demographics; drinking motives (Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised; Cooper, Psychol Assess. 1994;6:117-28); following/awareness of alcohol company ARC; engagement with celebrity ARC; peak drinks (most drinks consumed on one occasion); and alcohol-related problems (e.g., passed out). RESULTS: Greater celebrity ARC was linked to coping, enhancement, and conformity motives, and peak drinks. Frequent engagement with celebrity ARC was associated with higher problems. Positive indirect effects were observed from celebrity ARC to problems through coping and conformity motives, and peak drinks. After having adjusted for the influence of celebrity ARC, no significant pathways were found between alcohol company ARC and any of the drinking motives, peak drinks or problems, nor were there any indirect effects between alcohol company ARC and problems. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Results revealed that a possible explanation for why students who engaged with celebrity ARC experience problems was due to coping and conformity motives as well as peak drinks. Interventions targeting alcohol cognitions might assess engagement with and exposure to different sources of ARC given their potential to influence problems.

The alcohol self-presentation model: Using thematic qualitative analysis to elucidate how college students self-present via alcohol-related social media posts.

INTRODUCTION: Posting and viewing of alcohol-related content to social media is prevalent among college students and is related to problematic drinking. However, the cognitive self-presentation and self-monitoring processes behind users' alcohol-related content posts to different platforms are largely unknown. METHODS: Through in-depth, qualitative interviews with college students (n = 15) who drink heavily and post alcohol-related content regularly, we developed the Alcohol Self-Presentation Model. RESULTS: Using a multi-step thematic analysis approach, the themes of protectiveness and acquisitiveness emerged; these themes served as the basis of our model. In total, three protectiveness (perceived permanence of the content, privacy and reputation concerns) factors and four acquisitiveness (provocative, impulsive, high-status, maintaining relevance and connections) factors were derived. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our model delineated the alcohol self-presentations which allowed participants to demonstrate disparate versions of themselves to certain social media audiences. Our results illuminated that what people identify as being alcohol-related content, and what motivates the individual to post alcohol-related content, are essential to better comprehending how their alcohol-related content uniquely contributes to their drinking. Understanding students' alcohol self-presentations is important since their alcohol-related content may be putting themselves, and others, at-risk by perpetuating patterns of frequent posting and heavy drinking within the network. Our model may inform future behavioural interventions targeting the reduction of drinking among young people who are active on social media.

Double Vision on Social Media: How Self-Generated Alcohol-Related Content Posts Moderate the Link between Viewing Others' Posts and Drinking.

A robust finding is the positive association between self-generated alcohol-related content (SG-ARC) on social media (SM) and drinking among emerging adults; however, the reasons for this relationship are still unclear. A factor that has yet to be explored in combination with SG-ARC is how viewing others' alcohol-related content (ARC) may be impacting young adults' drinking. This cross-sectional study conducted across two universities asked students (N = 780; M = 20.80 years old; SD = 2.29; 67.82% female) to self-report how many SG-ARC posts they posted, to estimate how much they saw others' ARC, and how much they drank weekly. SG-ARC was then evaluated as a moderator of the association between viewing others' ARC and drinking. A negative binomial regression model with robust sandwich estimators was employed. Results revealed that both SG-ARC and viewing others' ARC were positively associated with drinking. A significant two-way interaction between SG-ARC and others' ARC emerged such that viewing others' posts appeared to exert an influence on drinking, particularly for students who did not post as many SG-ARC posts. These findings provide evidence that seeing others' ARC may be socially influencing students to drink, especially if they do not post as much SG-ARC themselves, by altering their internalized drinking norms.