Emerging adults’ social media engagement & alcohol misuse: A multidimensional, person-centered analysis of risk

Background Nearly all U.S. emerging adults use social media at least daily, and most discuss their offline activities online, including their alcohol misuse. As a result, developing evidence finds a correlation between social media use and offline alcohol drinking, suggesting that social media may be a novel risk factor for alcohol misuse. However, there are conflicting findings about what specific function of social media use is risker – does the amount of time spent online or the types of online activities matter more? Study Aim Our multidisciplinary team of human–computer interactionists, social workers, and public health scholars aimed to refine our understanding of the association between emerging adult social media use and alcohol misuse. To do so, we conceptualized social media use as a multidimensional construct, examining how much time emerging adults spend online (i.e., screen time) and their different online activities (i.e., social media engagement, such as posting pictures or reacting to posted content [e.g., liking shared pictures]). Taking this conceptualization a step further, we distinguished general online activities (i.e., general social media engagement, such as sharing pictures of food) from those explicitly related to offline alcohol consumption (i.e., alcohol-related social media engagement, such as sharing a video of someone drinking alcohol at a party). Finally, we examined if different levels of these three conceptualizations of social media use were risk factors for alcohol misuse and related negative consequences. Method We collected survey data from 249 emerging adults on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Using latent profile analyses, we attempted to distinguish the different ways we conceptualized social media use (i.e., screen time from general social media engagement and alcohol-related social media engagement.) We then examined whether significant differences existed between identified profiles and various alcohol-related outcomes in a typical and heavy drinking week. Findings We identified 3-profile solutions for both screen time (low, medium, and high) and general social media engagement (minimum, moderate, and high) and a 2-profile solution for alcohol-related social media engagement (minimal and moderate). When we assessed for alcohol risk, screen time was not related to drinking at all (neither frequency nor quantity), not even for emerging adults who reported using social media almost constantly. However, during a heavy drinking week, those who moderately post alcohol-related content online drank more heavily and had more binge drinking days. Notably, and contrary to previous research, emerging adults who reported high general social media engagement were most at risk for binge drinking and experiencing more alcohol-related negative consequences. Conclusions Findings underscore the importance of considering various forms of social media engagement – and not screen time – when studying the harms associated with using social media, including offline risk-taking behaviors like alcohol misuse. Results indicate that research, interventions, and clinical practice that target and treat emerging adult alcohol misuse should assess their social media behavior, concentrating on their engagement. This is especially true for the highest general engaging emerging adults who almost constantly post, respond, and react while online; these individuals might be the most at-risk and need support.