“Hey Everyone, I’m Drunk.” An Evaluation of Drinking-Related Twitter Chatter

Objective:

The promotion of drinking behaviors correlates with increased drinking behaviors and intent to drink, especially when peers are the promotion source. Similarly, online displays of peer drinking behaviors have been described as a potential type of peer pressure that might lead to alcohol misuse when the peers to whom individuals feel attached value such behaviors. Social media messages about drinking behaviors on Twitter (a popular social media platform among young people) are common but understudied. In response, and given that drinking alcohol is a widespread activity among young people, we examined Twitter chatter about drinking.

Method:

Tweets containing alcohol- or drinking-related keywords were collected from March 13 to April 11, 2014. We assessed a random sample (n = 5,000) of the most influential Tweets for sentiment, theme, and source.

Results:

Most alcohol-related Tweets reflected a positive sentiment toward alcohol use, with pro-alcohol Tweets outnumbering anti-alcohol Tweets by a factor of more than 10. The most common themes of pro-drinking Tweets included references to frequent or heavy drinking behaviors and wanting/needing/planning to drink alcohol. The most common sources of pro-alcohol Tweets were organic (i.e., noncommercial).

Conclusions:

Our findings highlight the need for online prevention messages about drinking to counter the strong pro-alcohol presence on Twitter. However, to enhance the impact of anti-drinking messages on Twitter, it may be prudent for such Tweets to be sent by individuals who are widely followed on Twitter and during times when heavy drinking is more likely to occur (i.e., weekends, holidays).

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By:   Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, Ph.D.,^a,* Melissa J. Krauss, M.P.H.,^a Shaina J. Sowles, M.P.H.,^a & Laura J. Bierut, M.D.^a

Affiliations
^aDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

*Correspondence may be sent to Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg at the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, Box 8134, St. Louis, MO 63110, or via email at:rehgp@psychiatry.wustl.edu.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2015.76.635 

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Influences of Acute Alcohol Consumption, Sexual Precedence & Relationship Motivation on Women's Relationship & Sex Appraisals & Unprotected Sex Intentions

Guided by the cognitive mediation model of sexual decision making (Norris, Masters, & Zawacki, 2004. Cognitive mediation of women's sexual decision making: The influence of alcohol, contextual factors, and background variables. Annual Review of Sex Research, 15, 258-296), we examined female social drinkers' (N = 162) in-the-moment risky sexual decision making by testing how individual differences (relationship motivation) and situational factors (alcohol consumption and sexual precedence conditions) influenced cognitive appraisals and sexual outcomes in a hypothetical sexual scenario. 

In a path model, acute intoxication, sexual precedence, and relationship motivation interactively predicted primary relationship appraisals and independently predicted primary sex appraisals. Primary appraisals predicted secondary appraisals related to relationship and unprotected sex, which predicted unprotected sex intentions. Sexual precedence directly increased unprotected sex intentions. 

Findings support the cognitive mediation model and suggest that sexual risk reduction interventions should address alcohol, relationship, sexual, and cognitive factors.

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By:  Jacques-Tiura AJ1, Norris J2, Kiekel PA3, Davis KC2, Zawacki T4, Morrison DM2, George WH2, Abdallah DA2.

• 1University of Washington, USA ; Wayne State University, USA.
• 2University of Washington, USA.
• 3University of Washington, USA ; Centralia College, USA.
• 4University of Texas at San Antonio, USA. 

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