Friends' Alcohol-Related Social Networking Site Activity Predicts Escalations in Adolescent Drinking: Mediation by Peer Norms

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.01.009

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 60, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 641-647

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.01.009 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Adolescents' increased use of social networking sites (SNS) coincides with a developmental period of heightened risk for alcohol use initiation. However, little is known regarding associations between adolescents' SNS use and drinking initiation nor the mechanisms of this association. This study examined longitudinal associations among adolescents' exposure to friends' alcohol-related SNS postings, alcohol-favorable peer injunctive norms, and initiation of drinking behaviors.

Methods

Participants were 658 high-school students who reported on posting of alcohol-related SNS content by self and friends, alcohol-related injunctive norms, and other developmental risk factors for alcohol use at two time points, 1 year apart. Participants also reported on initiation of three drinking behaviors: consuming a full drink, becoming drunk, and heavy episodic drinking (three or more drinks per occasion). Probit regression analyses were used to predict initiation of drinking behaviors from exposure to alcohol-related SNS content. Path analyses examined mediation of this association by peer injunctive norms.

Results

Exposure to friends' alcohol-related SNS content predicted adolescents' initiation of drinking and heavy episodic drinking 1 year later, controlling for demographic and known developmental risk factors for alcohol use (i.e., parental monitoring and peer orientation). In addition, alcohol-favorable peer injunctive norms statistically mediated the relationship between alcohol-related SNS exposure and each drinking milestone.

Conclusions

Results suggest that social media plays a unique role in contributing to peer influence processes surrounding alcohol use and highlight the need for future investigative and preventive efforts to account for adolescents' changing social environments.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were taken from an ongoing prospective study on alcohol initiation and progression among adolescents [25], [26]. Participants were 59.0% female and 21.3% nonwhite (4.6% black, 3.2% Asian, 1.5% American Indian, 5.5% mixed race, and 6.6% other) and 10.6% Hispanic; 36.1% of students received free or reduced price school lunch. Procedures were approved by the university's institutional review board.

Procedure

Students were recruited from six Rhode Island middle schools in rural, suburban, and

Descriptives

Means, frequencies, and correlations among study variables can be found in Table 1, with results describing participants' SNS use in Table 2.

Probit models

Results of probit regression analyses (Table 3) indicated that adolescents who reported having been exposed to friends' alcohol-related SNS content at T1 were significantly more likely to have had their first drink by T2 and to have engaged in their first episode of HED by T2, above and beyond the effects of extreme peer orientation, parental monitoring,

Discussion

This study fills a key gap in the literature by prospectively examining adolescents' initiation of drinking behaviors following exposure to friends' alcohol-related content on SNS and testing one potential mechanism, changing peer injunctive norms, by which this may occur. Results suggest that adolescents exposed to friends' alcohol-related SNS content reported stronger alcohol-favorable peer injunctive norms and were more likely to initiate drinking. Two key findings highlight the unique role

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the project staff and research participants who made this study possible. Preliminary results were presented as a poster, Exposure to friends' alcohol-related social networking site posts predicts adolescents' initiation of drinking behaviors, at the Society for Research on Adolescence biennial meeting in Baltimore, Maryland (W.A.R., J.N., and K.M.J., April 2016).

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: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

: Disclaimer: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIAAA, NICHD, or NSF. This work has not been published previously nor is it under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors approve of its publication; if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere.

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Original articleFriends' Alcohol-Related Social Networking Site Activity Predicts Escalations in Adolescent Drinking: Mediation by Peer Norms

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Participants

Procedure

Descriptives

Probit models

Discussion

Acknowledgments

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

Organ Behav Hum Decis Process

J Adolesc Health

Addict Behav

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

Behav Ther

Pers Individ Dif

J Adolesc Health

Teens, social media & technology overview 2015

Annual research review: Harms experienced by child users of online and mobile technologies: The nature, prevalence and management of sexual and aggressive risks in the digital age

J Child Psychol Psychiatry

The natural course of substance use and dependence

Oxf Handb Fo Subst Use Subst Use Disord

Adolescent brain development and the risk for alcohol and other drug problems

Neuropsychol Rev

A developmental perspective on alcohol use and heavy drinking during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood

J Stud Alcohol Suppl

Display of alcohol use on Facebook: A content analysis

Cyberpsychology Behav Soc Netw

Intoxigenic digital spaces? Youth, social networking sites and alcohol marketing: Intoxigenic digital spaces?

Drug Alcohol Rev

National survey on American attitudes on substance abuse XVII: Teens

Social cognitive theory of mass communication

Media Psychol

Original article
Friends' Alcohol-Related Social Networking Site Activity Predicts Escalations in Adolescent Drinking: Mediation by Peer Norms