A Longitudinal Examination of the Moderating Influence of Peer and Parental Socialization on Alcohol-Related Social Media Self-Effects Among Late Adolescents

ABSTRACT

This study is the first to empirically and longitudinally demonstrate that alcohol-related social media self-effects may occur via attitudes, and that the strength of this association is dependent on peers and parents. A 2-wave panel study with a 1-year interval (N = 1006) among late adolescents (age 16–20 at baseline) showed that especially individuals whose peers and parents engaged in alcohol-positive socialization behaviors, held more positive alcohol-related attitudes one year later when they shared alcohol-related self-presentations on social networking sites (SNS). The strength of the alcohol-related social media self-effect was dampened when peers and parents engaged in more negative alcohol-related socialization behaviors. Overall, these results do not only provide support for the idea that some individuals can affect themselves through displaying certain content on SNS, they also suggest that peers and parents continue to play a socializing role, even when adolescents transition into emerging adulthood.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by grants from Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds KU Leuven/Research Fund KU Leuven.

Notes

^1. The FLAMES research project uses data from a large survey containing 83 questions including demographics, a range of alcohol-related variables (e.g., consumption, attitudes, …), personality structures, school-related questions, social media variables, and questions relating to television and gaming behavior. Some variables in this dataset have already been analyzed in prior publications on alcohol-related social media effects (Geusens & Beullens, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b). This study adds to these publications by using the second wave of data, focusing on parents and peers as moderators, focusing on attitudes as the outcome, and using the unique analysis technique.

^2. An alternative model was tested incorporating only the alcohol-related items in the social media scales (i.e., and not the going out items). However, no significant differences between these models were found, indicating that going out behavior is intrinsically linked to alcohol consumption in individuals’ minds. Consequently, we decided to use the full alcohol-related social media items scale in our analyses (i.e., including the going out references).

^3. All measures defined binge drinking as consuming four or more (girls) or five or more (boys) glasses of alcohol in a two-hour timespan (NIAAA, 2004).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Onderzoeksraad, KU Leuven [C12/16/008,STG/14/012].