Young Adults’ Exposure to Alcohol- and Marijuana-Related Content on Twitter

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Twitter is among the most popular social media platforms used by young adults, yet it has been underutilized in substance use research compared with older platforms (e.g., MySpace and Facebook). We took a first step toward studying the associations between exposure to pro-alcohol-and marijuana-related content among young adults via Twitter and current heavy episodic drinking and current marijuana use, respectively. Method: We conducted an online survey of 587 (254 men, 333 women) Twitter users between ages 18 and 25 years in February 2014 using an online survey system that has been previously used in research on health behaviors and attitudes.Results: Current heavy episodic drinking was significantly associated with higher levels of exposure to pro-alcohol content. Similarly, current marijuana use was significantly associated with higher levels of exposure to pro-marijuana content. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in-depth research regarding young adults' exposure to pro-alcoholand marijuana-related content via Twitter may provide a foundation for developing effective prevention messages on this social media platform to counter the pro-alcohol and marijuana messages. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 77, 349-353, 2016)

Binge drinking: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions

“…There is recent evidence that the likelihood of participants' binge drinking substantially increased with exposure to pro-alcohol content in Tweets or on Facebook (CabreraNguyen, Cavazos-Rehg, Krauss, Bierut, & Moreno, 2016;D'Angelo, Kerr, & Moreno, 2014;Moreno, Cox, Young, & Haaland, 2015). The effects of social media on individual binge drinking were also found over time (D'Angelo et al, 2014).…”

Social Media, Marijuana and Sex: An Exploratory Study of Adolescents’ Intentions to Use and College Students’ Use of Marijuana

“…The associations between health behaviors and social media use among youth and young adults have been studied in depth in myriad contexts, including behaviors such as alcohol consumption (Moreno & Whitehill, 2014), body image (Fardouly et al, 2015), and marijuana use (Cabrera-Nguyen et al, 2016). Further, portrayals of alcohol and other substances are prevalent on social media (Beullens & Schepers, 2013;Cabrera-Nguyen et al, 2016;Cranwell et al, 2017;Moreno et al, 2016), including posts related to marijuana (Cavazos-Rehg et al, 2015;Krauss et al, 2015;Thompson et al, 2015). Most social media posts about marijuana, across a variety of social media platforms, portray marijuana positively (Cavazos-Rehg et al, 2015.…”

Awareness of, and participation with, user-created alcohol promotion, and the association with higher-risk drinking in young adults

“…Cross-sectional surveys report that young adults are aware of, and have participated with, a range user-created alcohol promotion. For instance, 32% report that they have uploaded pictures of themselves consuming alcohol to social media (Morgan, Snelson, & Elison-Bowers, 2010), 56% report that they have uploaded pictures of their peers drinking (Glassman, 2012), 83% report that they are aware of pictures posted by others which document peer consumption (Morgan et al, 2010), 38% report that they have posted on Twitter about alcohol or followed an account which promotes drinking (Cabrera-Nguyen, Cavozos-Rehg, Krauss, Bierut, & Moreno, 2016), and 54% report that they took part in the Neknominate drinking game (Moss et al, 2015). Longitudinal surveys and experimental designs have further suggested that awareness of, and participation with, user-created alcohol promotion is associated with willingness to drink, frequency of consumption, and higher-risk drinking (Boyle, LaBrie, Froidevaux, & Witkovic, 2016;D'Angelo, Kerr, & Moreno, 2014;Litt & Stock, 2011;Marczinski et al, 2016;Pumper & Moreno, 2013).…”