College students’ Facebook pages may hold clues as to which of them are at risk for alcohol dependence and abuse, according to a US study.
Researchers led by Megan Moreno from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that students who had pictures or posts about getting drunk or blacking out were more likely to be at risk of drinking problems, based on a screening test.
That was not necessarily the case for students who mentioned alcohol or drinking on their pages, but not in a way that showed they drank too much or in unhealthy situations.
They added that it was possible that Facebook pages could help schools find out who needs to be assessed for alcohol-related problems — although privacy and ethical concerns might make that complicated.
The question is whether “what’s being found on these sites... is actually predictive of clinical conditions,” said James Rosenquist, a social media researcher and psychiatrist from Massachusetts General Hospital who wasn’t involved in the study.
But he told Reuters Health that the findings suggest that messages on Facebook sites do seem to be linked to what happens in “the real world.”
Moreno and her teams proposed that peer leaders such as residential assistants could be trained to use Facebook to see who is at risk for problem drinking, and refer those students to get screening. Or, parents and administrators could talk to a school’s counselors if they were worried about alcohol-related content on a student’s page.
“You might have someone who, if they write in a Facebook posting about being drunk... that might be a red flag,” Rosenquist said.
But he added that with social media you get very small snapshots into people’s lives, so perusing Facebook pages alone might not be enough to see who needs to be screened.
There are other concerns too, including how appropriate it is to go scouting on students’ pages for certain information.
Moreno agreed that privacy concerns were an issue but said that universities could have links to the health center or to online screening tests show up as Facebook advertisements for students who use terms such as “blacked out” on their pages.
“With the targeted messaging, there’s not that (feeling) that someone you don’t know is creeping on your profile,” she said
Drunk on Facebook? That could be a problem for you
College students’ Facebook pages may hold clues as to which of them are at risk for alcohol dependence and abuse, according to a US study.
Researchers led by Megan Moreno from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that students who had pictures or posts about getting drunk or blacking out were more likely to be at risk of drinking problems, based on a screening test.
That was not necessarily the case for students who mentioned alcohol or drinking on their pages, but not in a way that showed they drank too much or in unhealthy situations.
They added that it was possible that Facebook pages could help schools find out who needs to be assessed for alcohol-related problems — although privacy and ethical concerns might make that complicated.
The question is whether “what’s being found on these sites... is actually predictive of clinical conditions,” said James Rosenquist, a social media researcher and psychiatrist from Massachusetts General Hospital who wasn’t involved in the study.
But he told Reuters Health that the findings suggest that messages on Facebook sites do seem to be linked to what happens in “the real world.”
Moreno and her teams proposed that peer leaders such as residential assistants could be trained to use Facebook to see who is at risk for problem drinking, and refer those students to get screening. Or, parents and administrators could talk to a school’s counselors if they were worried about alcohol-related content on a student’s page.
“You might have someone who, if they write in a Facebook posting about being drunk... that might be a red flag,” Rosenquist said.
But he added that with social media you get very small snapshots into people’s lives, so perusing Facebook pages alone might not be enough to see who needs to be screened.
There are other concerns too, including how appropriate it is to go scouting on students’ pages for certain information.
Moreno agreed that privacy concerns were an issue but said that universities could have links to the health center or to online screening tests show up as Facebook advertisements for students who use terms such as “blacked out” on their pages.
“With the targeted messaging, there’s not that (feeling) that someone you don’t know is creeping on your profile,” she said
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