Exposure to Alcohol-Related Social Media Content and Desire to Drink Among Young Adults

JAMA Pediatrics; Scott I. Donaldson, PhD, MS¹; Alex M. Russell, PhD²; Jon-Patrick Allem, PhD, MA³

Published Online: February 23, 2026

Social media use is common among young adults and is characterized by a continuous stream of content from peers and influencers,¹ which can feature alcohol in aspirational or humorous contexts.² Although prior research has linked exposure to alcohol-promoting content on social media with alcohol-promoting attitudes and behaviors among young adults,³ most of those studies were cross-sectional, unable to establish temporal precedence, and limited by unmeasured confounding variables. Establishing experimental evidence of this association is critical for guiding social media policy.⁴ We examined whether exposure to alcohol-promoting social media posts precedes increased desire to drink among young adults.

From August 22 to September 4, 2025, US individuals aged 18 to 24 years with internet access were recruited by the research agency YouGov to complete an online survey (eMethods in Supplement 1). Participants provided informed consent electronically. The Rutgers University Institutional Review Board approved all survey procedures and materials before data collection. We followed the AAPOR reporting guideline.

Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition designed to simulate a typical social media browsing experience and were matched to a sampling frame; matched cases were weighted. In the treatment condition, participants viewed 20 Instagram (Meta Platforms) posts from lifestyle influencers that visibly depicted alcohol consumption or alcohol-promoting imagery (eg, holding alcoholic beverages). In the control condition, participants viewed 20 matched social media posts from the same influencers but without any alcohol-related imagery.

Desire to drink was assessed using a single-item measure adapted from prior research.⁵Covariates included perceived influencer credibility, gender identity, age, self-reported race or ethnicity (included because of differences in content exposure and alcohol use), exposure to offline alcohol advertising, exposure to alcohol-related content on social media, daily social media use, and lifetime alcohol use (eTable in Supplement 1).

Ordinal logistic regression was used to test the association between the treatment vs control condition and desire to drink, adjusting for covariates. Multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted. Statistical significance was determined at 2-tailed P < .05. All analyses were conducted in R (R Core Team).

Results

The sample included 2000 participants (mean [SD] age, 21.2 [2.07] years; 47.2% [weighted] females). Treatment condition participants had significantly greater odds of reporting higher desire to drink than control condition participants (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.73; 95% CI, 1.46-2.07; P < .001) (Table). Participants who perceived influencers as highly credible compared with those who did not had greater odds of reporting higher desire to drink (AOR, 5.53; 95% CI, 3.50-8.76; P = .004). Similar direct associations between prior alcohol use and desire to drink were observed among participants who reported past 30-day alcohol use (AOR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.20-1.65; P < .001) and past 30-day binge drinking (AOR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09-1.55; P = .003). Results were consistent across sensitivity analyses.

Discussion

Exposure to alcohol-promoting social media content was associated with desire to drink across varying levels of prior alcohol use, and social media influencers may contribute to normalization of alcohol consumption among young people. This experimental evidence adds to a growing body of research showing that exposure to alcohol-promoting content, particularly on social media, is associated with alcohol-promoting attitudes and behaviors in young adults.⁶

This study has limitations. It remains unclear whether exposure to alcohol-promoting content leads to increased alcohol consumption in this population. Reciprocal processes are possible; that is, individuals with a greater desire to drink may be more likely to seek out alcohol-promoting content online. The influencer stimuli used may not represent the broader range of alcohol-related imagery found online. Social media posts were limited to 1 platform, which may not reflect popular content on other platforms.

Addressing social media’s role in shaping alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors may be critical for curbing alcohol consumption among young adults. Future research should examine how repeated exposure to alcohol-related content affects drinking intentions and behaviors over time and whether this association differs by content source (eg, brand-generated advertising; peer- or influencer-generated posts).

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: December 17, 2025.

Published Online: February 23, 2026. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.6335

Corresponding Author: Jon-Patrick Allem, PhD, MA, 303 George St, Ste 500, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (jon.patrick.allem@rutgers.edu).

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Russell reported receiving grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr Allem reported receiving grants from the National Cancer Institute. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This research was supported by grant P30CA072720 from the National Cancer Institute and by the Rutgers Cancer Institute.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Disclaimer: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

References

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Exposure to Alcohol-Related Social Media Content and Desire to Drink Among Young Adults

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