رابطه استفاده از فضاي مجازي با مصرف الكل در دانشجويان دانشگاه اصفهان

The Relationship of Social Media Use an‎d Alcohol Consumption among Students of the University of Isfahan

علوم قرآن و حديث

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between social media use an‎d alcohol consumption among students at the University of Isfahan. Specifically, the roles of attitudes toward alcohol, knowledge of its harms, an‎d the moderating effects of demographic variables were examined. The research employed a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population consisted of students at the University of Isfahan, from which 159 participants were selec‎ted through convenience sampling an‎d included in the study. Data were collected using stan‎dardized questionnaires assessing social media addiction, alcohol consumption patterns, cognitive an‎d behavioral attitudes toward alcohol, awareness of alcohol-related harms, an‎d exposure to alcohol-related content. Data analysis was conducted using Pearson an‎d Spearman correlation coefficients as well as multiple regression in SPSS version 27. The findings revealed that the direct relationship between overall social media addiction an‎d alcohol consumption was weak an‎d statistically non-significant (r = 0.14, p = 0.08). However, exposure to positive alcohol-related content showed a significant positive correlation with more favorable attitudes toward alcohol (r = 0.53, p <‎ 0.001) an‎d a significant negative correlation with awareness of alcohol harms (r = –0.30, p <‎ 0.001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that behavioral attitude was the strongest predictor of alcohol consumption ( = 0.867, p <‎ 0.001) an‎d played a mediating role in the effects of other variables. Furthermore, the study highlighted platform-specific effects: greater use of Twitter was associated with higher alcohol consumption (r = 0.17, p = 0.03), whereas greater use of Telegram was linked to lower alcohol consumption (r = –0.31, p <‎ 0.001). Analysis of demographic variables showed that the relationship between social media addiction an‎d alcohol consumption was stronger among males, graduate students (master’s an‎d PhD levels), an‎d individuals with below-average economic status; however, Fisher’s r-to-z transformation tests did not reveal statistically significant differences across any of the demographic groups. Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that social media primarily influences alcohol consumption indirectly through the formation of positive behavioral attitudes toward drinking an‎d the normalization of alcohol use via exposure to positive content, rather than through overall social media addiction. The results suggest that in the social media environment, positive representations tend to overshadow factual knowledge about alcohol harms an‎d ultimately contribute to consumption. Therefore, preventive interventions should focus not on blanket restrictions on social media use, but rather on enhancing digital media literacy an‎d modifying behavioral attitudes toward alcohol.

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