Local Community Advertising
While social media is often the place people go to share their lives with other people, a new study has found that social networking sites can also help identify young people at risk for alcohol problems.
Research from the North Carolina State University and Ohio University has found that students posting their alcohol use on social media sites is actually a stronger predictor of alcohol problems than having a drink.
The research began with questioning what drives students to drink and post about alcohol on social networking sites. Researchers conducted an online survey of 364 undergraduate students, all over 18 and all with an active Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account. Participates were then asked about their social media use, alcohol problems, alcohol related use of social networking sites, as well as questions that measured their motivations for drinking.
“The strongest predictor of both drinking alcohol and posting about it on social networking sites was espousing an alcohol identity- meaning that the individuals considered drinking a part of who they are,” explained co-lead author of the study and assistant professor at Ohio University, Charee Thompson.
“And those two behaviours were associated with alcohol problems- such as missing school or work, or getting into fights- because of drinking.”
Researchers found that posting about alcohol use on social media was actually a strong predictor of a alcohol problems. In other words, having a drink was less strong correlated with alcohol problems than posting about alcohol use was.
“This might be because posting about alcohol use strengthens a student’s ties to a drinking culture, which encourages more drinking, which could lead to problems,” said Thompson.
“We’re hopeful these findings can aid policymakers in developing interventions to target the most at-risk populations- particularly students with strong alcohol identities,” added co-author of the paper, Lynsey Romo.
Both authors said they hope future research on students alcohol use will further consider how drinking occurs in tandem with other behaviours that could cause problems.
Local Community Advertising