Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 24, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 24, 2021 - Oct 19, 2021
Date Accepted: Oct 13, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 3, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Drinking and social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions: A five-wave longitudinal study among workers in Finland
ABSTRACT
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted everyday life during 2020–2021. This has impacted alcohol consumption patterns and leisure activities, including the use of social media.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to analyze whether social media use predicts increased drinking over time and during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Methods:
This longitudinal five-wave survey study was conducted in 2019–2021 in Finland and based on a nationwide sample of workers. 840 respondents (56.31% male, aged 18–64, M = 43.90, SD = 11.14) took part in all 5 waves of the study. The outcome variable was drinking, measured with AUDIT-C. Multilevel linear hybrid modelling enabled the investigation of both within-person and between-person effects. Predictors included social media use and communication, involvement in social media identity bubbles, psychological distress, and remote working. Controls included sociodemographic factors and the Big Five personality traits.
Results:
Drinking decreased during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Increased involvement in social media identity bubbles was associated with an increase in drinking. Out of social media apps, online dating app use was associated with higher use of alcohol over time during the COVID-19 crisis. Unofficial social media communication at work was associated with higher alcohol use. Female gender, younger age, university education, non-industrial occupational field, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism were associated with lower levels of drinking.
Conclusions:
Social media use under pandemic conditions carries some risks for alcohol consumption. Involvement in social media bubbles and online dating are risk factors for drinking during COVID-19.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.