#DrinksWithFriends

Abstract

For many young people, drinking alcohol is an essential part of going out, having fun and growing up. At the same time, social media such as Facebook are increasingly used during alcohol consumption. It is therefore not surprising that a growing number of communication scientists and health professionals are drawing attention to the roles that social media can play in young people’s drinking behavior. It was previously found that both exposure to the alcohol references of others, as well as self-sharing these references, are related to higher alcohol consumption. However, what remained unclear was how these alcohol-related social media effects work, and who is most susceptible to them. The present article provides an overview of the author’s doctoral research. The aim of this dissertation was to uncover the underlying processes of the associations between alcohol-related social media use and the drinking behavior of young people. Special attention was paid to how differences between young people can augment or diminish these relationships. To answer the research questions, four studies were conducted between 2014 and 2018, among a total of more than 5000 Belgian and American respondents between 14 and 25 years old.