Social identity and drinking: Dissecting social networks and implications for novel interventions

Abstract

Drinking among young adults has been consistently associated with perceptions of prevalence and approval of varying levels of drinking among broadly defined similar others (e.g. other female college students). Few works have considered influences in terms of actual group members comprising individuals’ social networks. We proposed two overlapping groups would differentially influence drinking (important others; drinking buddies; and members of both groups). Furthermore, we expected that specific individuals (e.g. romantic partners and family members) would be associated with less drinking. Data were provided from 372 drinkers who logged daily drinking and the presence of network members on MTurk. Results indicated consistent support for the number of network members present as a predictor of the number of drinks consumed per drinking day, regardless of member characteristics. Only important others who were not drinkers and romantic partners failed to demonstrate unique positive associations with drinks per drinking day.

Keywords:

• Alcohol consumption
• social networks
• social identity
• interventions

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported financially, in part, by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grants [R01AA01476 and F31AA024377].