Trick or Drink: Offline and Social Media Hierarchical Normative Influences on Halloween Celebration Drinking

ABSTRACT

The current study examined the relationship between perceived societal and personal celebration drinking norms, social media use, and alcohol consumption during Halloween. The study used a survey of a nationally representative, convenience, and cross-sectional sample of underage youth (18–20 years old; N = 525). Participants self-reported their own drinking, perceived descriptive norms among peers and close friends, and alcohol-related social media posting and interaction during Halloween. Results revealed that underage youth’s estimation of societal drinking norms related to their proximal close friends’ drinking norms, which in turn, influenced self-reported number of drinks consumed during Halloween. Social media posting and interaction with alcohol-related content were associated with greater descriptive normative perceptions and self-reported drinking. Extending the hierarchical social norms approach, our findings showed that normative perceptions about proximal reference groups’ drinking, along with alcohol-related social media activities, were associated with greater number of drinks consumed during Halloween.

Notes

1. Per the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2017), prevalence of alcohol use in the past month was comparable to our sample, though our data was focused on celebration drinking. In 2016, 29.1% of 18 year-olds, 42.6% of 19 year-old, and 46.7% of 20 year-olds consumed alcohol the last month.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by a grant from the Trifecta Initiative at Michigan State University.