Different Digital Paths to the Keg? How Exposure to Peers' Alcohol-Related Social Media Content Influences Drinking Among Male and Female First-Year College Students

Abstract

Introduction: Despite speculation that peers’ alcohol-related content on social media sites (SMS) may influence the alcohol use behaviors of SMS frequenting college students, this relationship has not been investigated longitudinally. The current prospective study assesses the relationship between exposure to peers’ alcohol-related SMS content and later-drinking among first-year college students.

Methods: 408 first-year college students completed surveys 1 month into their first semester and 2 months into their second semester of college. Surveys assessed exposure to peers' alcohol-related posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as well as own and close friends alcohol use, perceived drinking norms, drinking motives, and beliefs about the role of alcohol in the college experience.  

Results: Total self-reported exposure to peers’ alcohol-related content on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat during the initial 6 weeks of college predicted alcohol consumption 6 months later. The rather robust relationship persisted even after students’ and close friends initial drinking were accounted for, indicating that alcohol references on SMS do not simply reflect alcohol use behaviors that would otherwise be observed in the absence of SMS and be predictive of later alcohol use. Findings also illuminate important gender differences in the degree to which peers’ alcohol-related SMS content influenced later drinking behavior as well as psychological mediators of this relationship. Among females, enhancement drinking motives and college alcohol beliefs fully mediated the relationship between SMS alcohol exposure and later drinking. Males, however, evidenced a much stronger predictive relationship SMS alcohol exposure and second semester drinking, with this relationship only partially explained by perceptions of drinking norms, college alcohol beliefs, and enhancement drinking motives.

Conclusions: Findings are suggestive of a number of important new directions for future research and encourage interventionists to incorporate popular SMS platforms, especially Instagram and Snapchat, into college drinking prevention efforts as a means of mitigating the influence of peers’ alcohol-related SMS content.