Meta‐Analysis of the Association of Alcohol‐Related Social Media Use with Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol‐Related Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Despite the pervasive use of social media by young adults, there is comparatively little known about whether, and how, engagement in social media influences this group's drinking patterns and risk of alcohol-related problems. We examined the relations between young adults' alcohol-related social media engagement (defined as the posting, liking, commenting, and viewing of alcohol-related social media content) and their drinking behavior and problems. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating the association of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems with alcohol-related social media engagement. Summary baseline variables regarding the social media platform used (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), social media measures assessed (e.g., number of alcohol photographs posted), alcohol measures (e.g., Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and Timeline Follow back Interview), and the number of time points at which data were collected were extracted from each published study. We used the Q statistic to examine heterogeneity in the correlations between alcohol-related social media engagement and both drinking behavior and alcohol-related problems. Because there was significant heterogeneity, we used a random-effects model to evaluate the difference from zero of the weighted aggregate correlations. We used metaregression with study characteristics as moderators to test for moderators of the observed heterogeneity. Following screening, 19 articles met inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The primary findings indicated a statistically significant relationship and moderate effect sizes between alcohol-related social media engagement and both alcohol consumption (r = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.29 to 0.44, p < 0.001) and alcohol-related problems (r = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.51, p < 0.001). There was significant heterogeneity among studies. Two significant predictors of heterogeneity were (i) whether there was joint measurement of alcohol-related social media engagement and drinking behavior or these were measured on different occasions and (ii) whether measurements were taken by self-report or observation of social media engagement. We found moderate-sized effects across the 19 studies: Greater alcohol-related social media engagement was correlated with both greater self-reported drinking and alcohol-related problems. Further research to determine the causal direction of these associations could provide opportunities for social media-based interventions with young drinkers aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related adverse consequences.

“Can't Wait to Blackout Tonight”: An Analysis of the Motives to Drink to Blackout Expressed on Twitter

“…Given the public nature of these Tweets, it is important to note that they may serve to normalize blacking out as a consequence of drinking (or as the aim of a drinking). There is a substantial body of literature highlighting that individuals (particularly young adults) drink according to their perception of others’ drinking (Borsari and Carey, ) and a number of studies have highlighted that exposure to or engagement with alcohol‐related content on social networking sites may influence behavior (Boyle et al., ; Curtis et al., 2018a,b; Moreno et al., ; Steers et al., ). Thus, exposure to preblackout drinking Tweets may affect an individual's perception of blacking out as a normal consequence of drinking.…”

“…Exposure to and engagement with alcohol‐related social networking content may be linked to alcohol use. Indeed, research suggested that there is a relationship between engaging in alcohol‐related social networking content and alcohol use (Boyle et al., ; Moreno et al., ; Steers et al., ) and a recent metaanalysis suggested that the relationship is moderately strong (Curtis et al., 2018a,b).…”

“…In this study, the Tweets tended to be more positive and proalcohol (79%) than negative and antialcohol (only 7%; Cavazos‐Rehg et al., ). Other researchers have used Twitter in a similar manner to highlight that (a) Tweets that reference couse (both alcohol and marijuana use) tend to be positive (Krauss et al., ), (b) alcohol marketing can reach underage children and adolescents (Winpenny et al., ), (c) alcohol brands market products differently in different countries (Gupta et al., ), and (d) the content of Tweets can be used to predict the alcohol consumption of US counties (Curtis et al., ,).…”

Public health policies and alcohol-related liver disease

“…99 Further studies focused on social media and young populations found that alcohol-related social media engagement was correlated with both greater self-reported drinking and alcohol-related problems. 100 This is of extreme importance as young populations are more exposed to alcohol advertising content on social media than adults. 101 The positive use of social media represents an opportunity to target young people.…”

Commentary on Cohn and Colleagues: Discussions of Alcohol Use in an Online Social Network for Smoking Cessation: Analysis of Topics, Sentiment, and Social Network Centrality (ACER, 2019)

“…For example, observational analysis of social networking sites has identified problematic prescription opioid use (Carrell et al., ), nonmedical use of psychostimulants (Hanson et al., ), and excessive alcohol consumption (Curtis et al., ). Similarly, a recent meta‐analysis conducted by Curtis and colleagues () reported a significant relationship between posting alcohol‐related content on social networking sites and alcohol consumption behavior and alcohol‐related consequences. While the use and study of social networking sites and digital recovery platforms—such as smartphone applications—remain in its infancy in many ways, preliminary studies suggest that it is useful for observation and identification of substance use behaviors and risk, as well as a potential location for dissemination of health‐focused communication focused on reducing risk and increasing healthy behaviors (Miller and Sønderlund, ).…”