A robust finding in the literature is that social media negatively impacts college students' alcohol-related outcomes. This webinar will explain:
- The types of alcohol-related content that college students commonly view and post on social media
- How and why alcohol-related posts have traditionally been found to negatively impact college students' drinking and alcohol-related problems
- How alcohol-related posts can be utilized to help students recall their drinking habits
- How alcohol-related posts might be leveraged to be used in intervention contexts, such as providing personalized normative feedback to target the reduction of alcohol use among heavy drinking college students who also post
Dr. Mai-Ly Steers, is an associate professor at Duquesne University in the School of Nursing. As an applied social psychologist, she has developed two parallel research trajectories in the addictions field: 1) examining psychosocial factors, particularly social norms, in relation to drinking, and 2) exploring the influences of social media on health and well-being. These two lines of research stem from her educational background in psychology, health, and communication studies. Dr. Steers possesses BA degrees in Biology and Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California; an MA in Communication Studies from California State University, Los Angeles; and an MA in Psychology and a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Houston.
Her current and prior work experiences have also shaped and informed her research. For instance, working on television documentaries (e.g., “Modern Marvels,” “A&E Biography”) for many years enabled her to recognize the ways in which pervasive technological media, such as social media, can considerably change people’s norms often without their conscious awareness. Moreover, her experiences working in the media impressed upon her the dire importance of disseminating research, particularly in the addictions realm, to the general public. The knowledge gained by such work can have such an enormous impact on people's physical and mental well-being.
She just finished data collection related to research, sponsored by a five-year K99-R00 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, that involves systematically integrating her two complementary interests in addictions and social media use in relation to health and well-being into a programmatic line of research dedicated to developing novel interventions. Specifically, she developed an intervention which targets the reduction of drinking among at-risk college students who are also avid social media users. Dr. Steers' ultimate objectives with this research are to provide standardized assessment tools and innovative, low-cost interventions for clinicians and researchers working in this field.