Social media use can also help identify students at risk of alcohol problems

"This work underscores the vital role that social networking sites, or SNSs, play in assisting students coordinate, put it up for sale and facilitate their drinking studies," says Lynsey Romo, an assistant professor of communique at NC kingdom and co-lead author of a paper at the work. "The have a look at also suggests that scholars who are vulnerable to having drinking problems can be identified through SNSs."

"We commenced this task with a threshold query: what drives students to drink and submit about alcohol on SNSs," says Charee Thompson, an assistant professor of verbal exchange research at Ohio university and co-lead author of the look at.

To cope with that question, the researchers carried out an internet survey of 364 undergraduate students at a Midwestern college. the scholars had been throughout 18, mentioned having fed on at least one alcoholic drink within the past month, and had an energetic fb, Twitter or Instagram account.

study members have been asked approximately their SNS use, alcohol consumption, alcohol problems and their alcohol-related use of SNSs, in addition to a chain of questions designed to measure their motivations for ingesting.

"The most powerful predictor of each drinking alcohol and posting approximately it on SNSs was espousing an alcohol identity -- meaning that the individuals considered consuming part of who they are," Thompson says. "and people two behaviors have been associated with alcohol problems -- together with lacking school or work, or getting into fights -- due to consuming."

In fact, the researchers observed that posting approximately alcohol use on social media became absolutely a stronger predictor of alcohol issues than alcohol use become. In different words, having a drink changed into less strongly correlated with alcohol problems than posting approximately alcohol use turned into -- although absolutely college students with alcohol issues have been ingesting alcohol.

"This might be due to the fact posting approximately alcohol use strengthens a student's ties to a consuming culture, which encourages greater ingesting, which could lead to problems," Thompson says.

"we're hopeful that those findings can resource policymakers in growing interventions to goal the most at-threat populations -- in particular college students with sturdy alcohol identities," Romo says. "And social media can also assist discover the ones students. for example, schools may want to train student leaders and others in administrative positions to experiment SNSs for text and photos which can imply alcohol problems."

similarly, the researchers note that destiny research on scholar alcohol use may additionally need to further recollect how drinking occurs in tandem with different behaviors that might motive students issues.