Alcohol use is common among college students, with 56% reporting recent use and 24% engaging in binge drinking, leading to significant negative consequences like missed classes and impaired functioning. Previous research indicates that perceptions of peer alcohol use are a key predictor of college drinking, influenced not only by in-person interactions but also by alcohol-related content (ARC) shared by peers on social media. This study aims to investigate the association between the frequency of exposure to peer-shared alcohol-related content (ARC) on social media and students’ drinking behaviors, while also exploring how factors like gender and relationship characteristics may moderate this relationship.
The study involved 994 college students with a mean age of 21.17 years (61.8% female) who completed a web-based survey. Participants were asked to identify up to 20 important peers and rate their perceived frequency of ARC exposure from these peers. The study used network autocorrelation analyses to assess the relationship between perceived exposure to peer ARC and alcohol consumption. Additionally, the study controlled for factors such as participants’ own ARC sharing, peer alcohol consumption, and participants’ time spent on social media. The moderation effects of gender and relationship qualities (closeness, communication frequency, and drinking frequency) on the ARC exposure-alcohol use relationship were also examined.
The results demonstrated that a higher perceived frequency of exposure to alcohol-related content (ARC) shared by peers was significantly associated with increased alcohol consumption, independent of both the participants’ own ARC sharing and their peers’ self-reported drinking behaviors. While female participants, on average, consumed less alcohol than male participants, gender and relationship characteristics such as closeness, communication frequency, and shared drinking did not significantly moderate this effect. The lack of moderation by relationship qualities may be due to the study’s limitation of restricting participants to peers within the same class year, which may have constrained the ability to capture broader peer influences from a more extensive social network. These findings emphasize the unique impact of peer-generated social media content on college drinking behaviors, highlighting the need for interventions focused on enhancing media literacy and managing peer influences.
Takeaway: Peer-generated alcohol-related content on social media is a significant factor influencing college drinking behaviors, highlighting the need for targeted interventions like media literacy and peer influence management.