Awareness of, and participation with, user-created alcohol promotion, and the association with higher-risk drinking in young adults

Citation

Critchlow N, Moodie C, Bauld L, Bonner A & Hastings G (2017) Awareness of, and participation with, user-created alcohol promotion, and the association with higher-risk drinking in young adults. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 11 (2), Art. No.: 6429. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2017-2-4

Abstract
User-created alcohol promotion refers to the content distributed through new media which intends to promote consumption, but independent of commercial digital marketing. This study explores exposure to such user-created alcohol promotion and the association with higher-risk drinking in a sample of young adults in the United Kingdom. An online cross-sectional survey with 18-25 year olds (n = 405) was used to measure awareness of, and participation with, 11 forms of user-created alcohol promotion. Higher-risk drinking was measured through the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C). On average, participants were aware of 7.48 user-created alcohol promotion channels and had participated with 4.36. A hierarchical logistic regression highlighted a positive association between exposure to user-created alcohol promotion and higher-risk consumption, with participation (AOR = 1.64) having a stronger association with higher-risk consumption than awareness (AOR = 1.19). The results suggest that young adults are aware of, and participating with, a cumulative range of user-created alcohol promotion, both within and beyond social media. Further research is required to understand whether this association with higher-risk drinking is causal, the links between user-created alcohol promotion and commercial marketing, and the wider utility of user-created content to influence health behaviours in young adults.

Keywords
Alcohol; Users-created promotion; Consumption; Higher-risk drinking; Young adults.

Journal
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace: Volume 11, Issue 2

People

Professor Adrian Bonner

Honorary Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences

Dr Nathan Critchlow

Research Fellow, Institute for Social Marketing

Professor Gerard Hastings

Emeritus Professor, Institute for Social Marketing

Professor Crawford Moodie

Professor, Institute for Social Marketing