Is There a Link between the Misconception that There is Binge Drinking on College Campuses and the Presence of Alcohol Related Content on Social Media

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A popular misconception when it comes to college life is that almost every college student parties on the weekends and participates in binge drinking. Angela K. Fournier, Erin Hall, Patricia Ricke, and Brittany Storey performed this study to identify if there is a link between this misconception and the presence of alcohol-related content on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

One of the theories that Fournier, et al. (2013, p.86) discuss in the article is the Social Norms Theory. The idea of the Social Norms Theory is that our perceptions of how other people think and act affect how we think and act. The theory focuses mainly on how perceptions of unhealthy behavior can lead to more unhealthy behavior, such as binge drinking (Berkowitz, 2011, as cited by Fournier, et al., 2013, p.86) Binge drinking is a continually growing problem in colleges across the United States (Glatter, 2014). According to Hingson, Heeren, Winter, and Wechsler (as cited by Fournier, et al., 2013, p.86), most binge drinking occurs within late teens and young adults, particularly college students. The Social Norms Theory suggests here that much of this binge drinking in college is due to the fact that many students go into college thinking that binge drinking is the norm. With this thought, they feel that they must also binge drink to conform to the culture of their college.

Among the issue of binge drinking and alcohol abuse on college campuses, the rapid growth of social media has led to an increasing problem of college students posting alcohol-related content to their pages. This content can range anywhere from pictures from last night’s party to a “Wall” post talking about how intoxicated the student was. Peluchette and Karl (as cited by Fo...

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...ut a rapidly growing issue throughout colleges across the United States. Fournier, et al. did come up with the results they were expecting to support their hypothesis. After reading this article and the results of the study, it is safe to say that the presence of alcohol-related content on social media, particularly Facebook, does in fact alter people’s perception of college drinking norms.

References

Fournier, A., Hall, E., Ricke, P., & Storey, B. (2013). Alcohol and the social network: Online social networking sites and college students' perceived drinking norms. Psychology Of Popular Media Culture, 2(2), 86-94.

Glatter, R. (2014). Update On Binge Drinking Among College Students: From Bad To Worse. Forbes. Retrieved 13 April 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2014/03/11/update-on-binge-drinking-among-college-students-from-bad-to-worse/

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