Dealing with Alcohol-Related Posts on Social Media: Using a Mixed-Method Approach to Understand Young Peoples’ Problem Awareness and Evaluations of Intervention Ideas

Hanneke Hendriks (), Tu Thanh Le, Winifred A. Gebhardt, Bas van den Putte and Robyn Vanherle
Additional contact information
Hanneke Hendriks: Behavioral Science Institute (BSI), Communication & Media, Radboud University, 6525 GD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Tu Thanh Le: Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, 2511 VX Den Haag, The Netherlands
Winifred A. Gebhardt: Health, Medical and Neuropsychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands
Bas van den Putte: Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Robyn Vanherle: Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: Young individuals frequently share and encounter alcohol-related content (i.e., alcohol posts) on social networking sites. The prevalence of these posts is problematic because both the sharing of and exposure to these posts can increase young individuals’ alcohol (mis)use. Consequently, it is essential to develop effective intervention strategies that hinder young individuals from sharing these posts. This study aimed to develop such intervention strategies by following four steps: (1) assessing young individuals’ problem awareness of alcohol posts, (2) unraveling individuals’ own intervention ideas to tackle the problem of alcohol posts, (3) examining their evaluations of theory/empirical-based intervention ideas, and (4) exploring individual differences in both problem awareness and intervention evaluations. To reach these aims, a mixed-method study (i.e., focus-group interviews and surveys) among Dutch high-school and college students ( N total = 292, Age range = 16–28 years) was conducted. According to the results, most youth did not consider alcohol posts to be a problem and were, therefore, in favor of using automated warning messages to raise awareness. However, these messages might not work for every individual, as group differences in problem awareness and intervention evaluations exist. Overall, this study puts forward potential intervention ideas to reduce alcohol posts in digital spheres and can therefore serve as a steppingstone to test the actual effects of the ideas.

Keywords: alcohol posts; social media; intervention development; problem awareness; participatory action research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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