College students’ drinking remains a significant concern, with nearly half reporting recent alcohol use and a third engaging in binge drinking, leading to adverse academic, health, and safety outcomes. Social media has become an important arena where alcohol-related content (ARC) is frequently shared, often glamorizing drinking and reinforcing positive perceptions while obscuring risks. Prior studies showed that ARC exposure and posting are linked to increased alcohol use, and theories such as symbolic interactionism, public commitment, and social norms help explain how students internalize these behaviors as part of their identities. However, little is known about the specific types of identities that emerge and are maintained through ARC posting. Therefore, the present study aims to address this gap by qualitatively examining how college students construct alcohol-related identities on social media and how these processes reinforce problematic drinking patterns.
This study recruited 20 college students (ages 18-26) who reported at least one heavy drinking episode in the past month and regularly posted alcohol-related content (ARC) on social media. Participants completed 90-minute, semi-structured interviews where they reviewed their ARC posts from the previous three months and discussed their posting motivations, including platform selection, validation received, posting context, personality aspects conveyed, and general perceptions of why people post ARC. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis.
According to the research findings, college students’ alcohol-related content (ARC) on social media revealed two main themes. In the first theme, “alcohol as the focal point,” students expressed drinking as their core identity through subthemes of partier, humorist, and master drinker, with partiers and humorists often using secretive or implicit signaling to avoid negative judgment. In the second theme, “alcohol as an accessory,” students used drinking to enhance other identities including social/outgoing, sophisticated, and material status personas, where alcohol served as a supplementary element rather than the primary focus to reinforce their desired lifestyle. From theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism, public commitment, and social norms, students utilized alcohol as a symbol to connect with peers and maintain consistent online identities that aligned with perceived college norms, which consequently led to overestimating drinking norms and continuously amplifying both drinking behaviors and ARC posting within their social circles.
Takeaway: College students construct alcohol-related identities on social media by either featuring drinking as their core identity or using it as a lifestyle enhancement tool, which can lead to increased drinking behaviors and related posting within peer groups through the formation of social norms.