"Follow my Finsta": Drinking trajectories in relation to auxiliary Instagram accounts

Abstract

Objective: This study explored the burgeoning youth practice of possessing a fake, secondary Instagram account known as a "Finsta" in relation to exposure to alcohol-related content and college drinking.

Participants: First-year university students with at least a primary Instagram account (N = 296) completed online surveys.

Method: Surveys assessed whether participants did or did not have a Finsta pre-matriculation (T1), Instagram alcohol content exposure one month into college (T2), and alcohol use at T1 and near the end of the first year (T3).

Results: Moderated mediation analysis revealed that having a Finsta at T1 was associated with greater exposure to alcohol-related posts at T2 and, for male but not female students, predicted heavier drinking at T3.

Conclusion: Findings are consistent with previous results suggesting that males may be more behaviorally impacted by peers' depictions of alcohol use on social media. This carries implications for social media-based intervention efforts targeting first-year students.

Keywords: College student drinking; Instagram; gender differences; social media.

Figure 1.

Conceptual model of indirect relationship between Finsta at T1 and the number of drinks per week at T3. Finsta (Primary + Finsta account user; Primary Account Only user).

Figure 2.

Unstandardized coefficients (standard errors) for pathways examined in the moderated mediation model (Main Analysis). M = conditional effect for male participants, F = conditional effect for female participants. Finsta (Primary + Finsta account user = 1; Primary Account Only user = 0). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001.