title: ‘Off your Face(book)’: alcohol in online social identity construction and its relation to problem drinking in university students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alcohol is a key component of identity exploration for many young people, yet few studies have investigated identity construction in relation to problematic drinking. Increases in youth alcohol consumption have coincided with expanding use of communications technologies, particularly social networking sites (SNS), which have altered traditional conditions of identity construction. It has been found young people often engage with alcohol in the SNS environment by portraying themselves as binge drinkers. The current study applied an innovative approach to identity construction (the photographic essay) to provide insight into the portrayal of ‘alcohol-identity’ on Facebook.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty-eight university students completed a range of alcohol measures before providing access for researchers to view their Facebook profiles to operationalise their alcohol-identity according to autophotographic methodology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants utilised a variety of photographic and textual material to present alcohol as a component of their identity on Facebook, with over half having selected an alcohol-related profile image. Alcohol-identity predicted alcohol consumption and problematic alcohol-related behaviours as measured by questionnaires used to reliably identify alcohol-related problems in university students. Almost 60% reported potentially problematic alcohol use according to the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that portraying oneself as a drinker is considered by many young people to be a socially desirable component of identity in the SNS environment, perpetuating an online culture that normalises binge drinking. Ready-made Facebook photo essays provide an alternate method of accessing problematic alcohol use, supplementing self-report measures.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. brad.ridout@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Brad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ridout
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D010781:Photography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012933:Social Identification; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult