(Newswise) — Young adults are frequently active on social media – a source of significant exposure to alcohol-related content that is, in turn, associated with increased alcohol use. While most alcohol research focuses on college students, nearly 40 percent of young adults do not attend four-year colleges.
New research has identified keywords used on social media that can identify higher alcohol risk among this underserved population. These results will be shared at the 48th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“Most alcohol research focuses on college students, who typically have greater access to resources such as alcohol prevention and treatment,” said Megan Strowger, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. “However, about 40 percent of young adults do not attend four-year colleges. This population is often underserved in research and has fewer intervention options. Our study sought to understand this overlooked group, addressing a critical need to connect them with resources to avoid alcohol-related harm or support them in reducing or quitting drinking.”
Strowger will discuss her research at the RSA meeting on 24 June 2025.
For this study, 610 non-college young adults 18 to 29 years of age were recruited from a large pool of individuals who had previously expressed interest in participating in research. Participants completed an online survey or individual qualitative interview, listing alcohol-related keywords recalled from social media, how often they saw or posted alcohol content on social media, and their typical alcohol consumption and consequences.
“We compiled a list of alcohol-related keywords and categorized them by themes like ‘drunk’ or ‘alcohol harm,’” said Strowger. “We found that young people who recalled seeing more negative alcohol-consequences keywords on social media also reported experiencing more negative consequences themselves.
This means we’ve begun to pinpoint some specific keywords linked to higher alcohol risk, providing a concrete first step to identify at-risk young adults through the alcohol-related language they encounter on social media.”
Strowger added that these findings can offer a promising pathway to help protect non-college young adults from alcohol-related harm. “The high-risk keywords we identified can be used to train machine-learning algorithms to detect problematic alcohol posts on social media,” she said. This information could then be used to trigger targeted interventions, such as personalized direct messages or advertisements, or connecting vulnerable young adults with alcohol-related support and resources they might not otherwise access or even be aware of.
“Social media platforms are widely scrutinized for their impact on youth mental health,” added Strowger. “Our research reveals that seeing harmful drinking content on these platforms might also impact young people’s physical health. This underscores a pressing need to develop interventions that counteract the influence of this online content, to hopefully reduce both the short- and long-term consequences of heavy drinking.”
