Students who post Facebook pictures and statuses about getting drunk are more likely to have drinking problems, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Out of the 224 undergraduates surveyed, two-thirds of the students didn’t have any reference to alcohol. The rest either mentioned or referenced non-problematic social drinking, or showed evidence of more dangerous drinking habits, like intoxication or blacking out, according to Reuters
Students who showed references to alcohol were then required to take a 10-question assessment test. Nearly six in 10 students whose Facebook pages had references to intoxication and other dangerous drinking habits showed risks for alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, as well as other drinking related problems, according to Reuters.
Megan A. Moreno, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of adolescent medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said the results could help schools find out if certain students show early signs of alcoholism, according to a press release from the National Institute of Health.
This, in turn, would allow schools to intervene before the problems become serious.
Some students don’t agree with the study’s findings.
Meagen Kelly, a second-year student at Ryerson University, said drunk Facebook updates don’t mean a thing.
“Drunken status updates don’t show a sign of a drinking problem,” Kelly said. “It just shows that people can not put away their phones while drunk.”
Fan Liu, a second-year business student at McGill University, agreed that the updates were harmless.
“We’re at the age where most of our social events include alcohol and we feel the need to fit in,” Liu said. “For most students, excessive drinking and partying will probably end after we graduate because the social need for it will no longer exist. Alcoholic gatherings will be replaced with other kinds of gatherings rather then pure drinking parties.”
Marianna Choi, a first-year commerce student at Queen’s University, said the study’s results are probably true. But she said the solution isn’t to have school officials invading the privacy of students.
“Teenage drinking is an issue that needs to be dealt with,” Choi said. “But schools Facebook creeping you might not be the answer.”
