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

Abstract

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.

Acknowledgments

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers: R00AA02539403 and K99AA025394. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Contributors

Dr. Mai-Ly N. Steers contributed to designing the study, collecting the data, co-wrote the introduction and results, and edited the entire manuscript to ensure it was cohesive. Dr. Rose Marie Ward contributed to designing the study, collecting the data, and writing the discussion. Dr. Clayton Neighbors contributed in designing the study and conducting the analysis. Angela Tanygin co-wrote the introduction and provided feedback. Ying Guo helped to collect the data and co-wrote the discussion. Finally, Elizabeth Teas co-wrote the discussion and provided feedback.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interests are declared.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Grant: [R00AA02539403 and Grant: K99AA025394]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.