Peer Alcohol Use Research Articles

Reducing Alcohol Misuse and Promoting Treatment Initiation Among Veterans Through a Brief Internet-Based Intervention: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Young adult veterans who served after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 (ie, post-9/11) are at heightened risk for experiencing behavioral health distress and disorders including hazardous drinking, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression. These veterans often face significant barriers to behavioral health treatment, and reaching them through brief mobile phone-based interventions may help reduce drinking and promote treatment engagement. Following a successful pilot study, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to further test the efficacy of a brief (ie, single session) mobile phone-delivered personalized normative feedback intervention enhanced with content to promote treatment engagement. We will conduct an RCT with 800 post-9/11 young adult veterans (aged 18 to 40 years) with potentially hazardous drinking and who have not recently received treatment for any behavioral health problems. Participants will be randomly assigned to the personalized intervention or a control condition with resources for seeking care. The personalized normative feedback module in the intervention focuses on the correction of misperceived norms of peer alcohol use and uses empirically informed approaches to increase motivation to address alcohol use and co-occurring behavioral health problems. Past 30-day drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and treatment-seeking behaviors will be assessed at baseline and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post intervention. Sex, barriers to care, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and severity of alcohol use disorder symptoms will be explored as potential moderators of outcomes. We expect recruitment to be completed within 6 months, with data collection taking 12 months for each enrolled participant. Analyses will begin within 3 months of the final data collection point (ie, 12 months follow-up). This RCT will evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention for non-treatment-seeking veterans who struggle with hazardous drinking and possible co-occurring behavioral health problems. This intervention has the potential to improve veteran health outcomes and overcome significant barriers to treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04244461; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04244461. DERR1-10.2196/59993.

Transitions to polysubstance use: Prospective cohort study of adolescents in Australia.

Adolescent polysubstance use has been associated with adverse social and health outcomes. Our aim was to measure rates and transitions to polysubstance use during adolescence and identify factors associated with initiation and discontinuation of polysubstance use. Prospective cohort study. Multistate Markov modelling was used to estimate rates and identify correlates of transitions between substance use states. Adolescent-parent dyads (n = 1927; adolescents in grade 7, age ≈13 years) were recruited from Australian schools during 2010/11 (Wave 1). Adolescents were surveyed annually until 2016/17 (n = 1503; age ≈19 years; Wave 7) and parents were surveyed annually until 2014/15 (Wave 5). Alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use outcomes were collected at Waves 3-7. Potential confounders were collected at Waves 1-6 and consisted of sex, anxiety and depression symptoms and externalizing problems, parental monitoring, family conflict and cohesion, parental substance use and peer substance use. Covariates were age and family socioeconomic status. Few adolescents engaged in polysubstance use at earlier waves (Wave 3: 5%; Wave 4: 8%), but proportions increased sharply across adolescence (Waves 5-7: 17%, 24%, 36%). Rates of transitioning to polysubstance use increased with age, with few (<9%) adolescents transitioning out. More externalizing problems (odds ratio [OR] = 1.10; 99.6% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07-1.14), parental heavy episodic drinking (OR = 1.22; 99.6% CI = 1.07-1.40), parental illicit substance use (OR = 3.56; 99.6% CI = 1.43-8.86), peer alcohol use (OR = 5.68; 99.6% CI = 1.59-20.50) and peer smoking (OR = 4.18; 99.6% CI = 1.95-8.81) were associated with transitioning to polysubstance use. Polysubstance use in Australia appears to be rare during early adolescence but more common in later adolescence with low rates of transitioning out. Externalizing problems and greater parental and peer substance use are risk factors for adolescent polysubstance use that may be suitable intervention targets.

Associations between frequency of exposure to peer-generated alcohol-related posts and alcohol use within a social network of college students

Peer alcohol use, commonly assessed via perceptions of how many drinks peers consume, is a robust predictor of college drinking. These perceptions are formed by in-person exposure to peer drinking but also may be affected by seeing alcohol-related content (ARC) shared on peer social media accounts. Most research assesses exposure by asking about the frequency of ARC sharing by a whole friend group, potentially missing influences from specific friends. Social network methods collect information about specific friends and their behavior but few studies have used these methods to examine the effects of ARC on drinking, nor have they examined potential moderators of this relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived frequency of exposure to ARC shared by social network members on social media is associated with participant alcohol use after controlling for network members’ self-reported alcohol use, and if participant gender and relationship qualities with network members moderate this association. Participants were 994 college students (Mage = 21.17, SD = 0.47; 61.8 % female; 55.4 % White; 12.3 % Hispanic) who completed a web-based survey. Due to the social network design, network autocorrelation analyses were conducted, which revealed that greater perceived frequency of exposure to network member ARC was significantly associated with higher alcohol quantity above and beyond network members’ alcohol use. Peer ARC had a unique association with drinking behavior independent of in-person peer alcohol use, although the cross-sectional design precludes making causal inferences. Clinicians delivering alcohol interventions to college students may wish to discuss exposure to ARC as another important source of peer influence and how media literacy may help reduce the effects.

Family ties: examining family functioning and alcohol use among American Indian youth

PurposeThis study aims to examine a second-order latent variable of family functioning built from two established protective factors for American Indian (AI) youth, i.e. family cohesion and parental monitoring. This study then examines if family functioning is related to alcohol use frequency or age of initiation for AI youth. Additionally, this study examines if family functioning served as a moderator for the risk factor of peer alcohol use.Design/methodology/approachData came from the 2021 Our Youth, Our Future survey. Participants were 4,373 AI adolescents from Grades 6–12 across the contiguous USA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the latent variable of family functioning. Structural paths and interaction terms between peer use and family functioning were added to the SEM to explore direct and moderating effects.FindingsFamily cohesion and parental monitoring were best represented by a second-order latent variable of family functioning, which was related to later initiation and lower alcohol use frequency.Practical implicationsThe findings regarding the initiation of alcohol use may be applicable to prevention programs, with family functioning serving as a protective factor for the initiation of alcohol use. Programs working toward alcohol prevention may be best served by focusing on family-based programs.Originality/valueThe latent variable of family functioning is appropriate for use in AI samples. Family functioning, which is an inherent resilience factor in AI communities, was shown to be protective against harmful alcohol use behaviors.

Adolescent (mis)perceptions of peer alcohol posts on social media: Prospective associations with alcohol attitudes and use.

Social media is a central context in which teens interact with their peers, creating opportunities for them to view, post, and engage with alcohol content. Because adolescent peer interactions largely occur on social media, perceptions of peer alcohol content posting may act as potent risk factors for adolescent alcohol use. Accordingly, the preregistered aims of this study were to (1) compare perceived friend, typical person, and an adolescent's own posting of alcohol content to social media and (2) examine how these perceptions prospectively relate to alcohol willingness, expectancies, and use after accounting for offline perceived peer alcohol use. This longitudinal study included 435 adolescents (Mage = 16.91) in 11th (48%) and 12th grade (52%). Participants completed measures of alcohol content social media posts, perceived peer alcohol use, willingness to drink alcohol, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use at two time points, 3 months apart. Consistent with preregistered hypotheses, adolescents reported that 60.3% of the typical person their age and 30.6% of their friends post alcohol content on social media. By contrast, only 7% of participants reported that they themselves posted such content to social media. After accounting for offline perceived peer drinking norms, neither perceived friend nor typical person alcohol content social media posts were prospectively associated with willingness to drink or positive or negative alcohol expectancies. Perceived friend alcohol content posts were prospectively positively associated with past 30-day alcohol consumption even after controlling for offline perceived peer drinking norms. Adolescents misperceived the frequency of alcohol-related posting to social media among their peers, and perceptions of friend alcohol content posts prospectively predicted alcohol use. Given the results from the current study and the ubiquity of social media among adolescents, prevention efforts may benefit from addressing misperceptions of alcohol-related posting to social media.

Longitudinal effects and environmental moderation of ALDH2 and ADH1B gene variants on substance use from age 14 to 40.

Alcohol use and dependence are strongly affected by variation in aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) and, to a lesser extent, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1B) genes. We use this genetic variation with an adoption design to test the causal role of alcohol use on other drug use, as well as the moderating role of adoptive parent, sibling, and peer alcohol use. Longitudinal models were run on 412 genotyped adopted individuals of East Asian ancestry with multiple assessments between ages 14 and 40. We found robust associations between alcohol frequency, quantity, and maximum drinks and ALDH2, but not ADH1B, status. The magnitude of the ALDH2 protective effect increased with age, particularly for maximum drinks, though estimates were smaller than previously reported in ancestrally similar individuals in East/North-East Asian countries. These results suggest that sociocultural factors in Minnesota may reduce the protective effects of ALDH2. We found that peer alcohol use, but not parent or sibling use, predicted adopted offspring's use, and that these environmental influences did not vary by ALDH2 status. Finally, we did not find strong evidence of associations between ALDH2 status and tobacco, marijuana, or illegal drug use, contrary to expectation if alcohol serves as a gateway to use of other drugs.

Individual-, peer-, and parent-level substance use-related factors among 9- and 10-year-olds from the ABCD Study: Prevalence rates and sociodemographic differences

BackgroundAlthough a relatively large body of research has identified multiple factors associated with adolescent substance use, less is known about earlier substance-related factors during preadolescence, including curiosity to use substances. The present study examined individual-, peer-, and parent-level domains pertaining to substance use and how these domains vary by sociodemographic subgroups and substance type. MethodsParticipants were 11,864 9- and 10-year-olds from the baseline sample of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Youth-reported measures were curiosity to use substances and perceived peer substance use. Parent-reported measures were availability of and rules about substances. Generalized logistic mixed models (GLMM) were used to compare these measures across alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana and across sociodemographic subgroupings (sex, race/ethnicity, household income, and family history of alcohol problems). GLMM was then used to examine predictors of curiosity to use by substance type. ResultsThe most striking descriptive differences were found between race/ethnicity and income categories (e.g., positive associations between greater income and greater availability of alcohol). In multivariable analyses, greater curiosity to use alcohol was associated with being male, higher household income, perceived peer alcohol use, and easy alcohol availability; greater curiosity to use nicotine was associated with being male, perceived peer cigarette use, easy availability of cigarettes, and no parental rules about cigarette use. ConclusionsThis study identified substance use-related individual-, peer-, and parent-level factors among a diverse, national sample. Findings highlight the importance of considering sociodemographic and substance-specific variability and may help identify risk and protective factors preceding adolescent substance use.

Actual and perceived E-cigarettes behaviors among a national sample of U.S. college students

Objective: Electronic cigarette use represents an important college health concern. This investigation assessed demographic and behavioral correlates associated with actual and perceived e-cigarette use among a national sample of American college students. Methods: Respondents (n = 19,861) comprised college students from over 40 distinct American higher education institutions. Multivariable logistic regression assessed whether (1) alcohol, tobacco or marijuana use were associated with e-cigarette use; (2) perceived peer use of alcohol, tobacco or marijuana were associated with perceived e-cigarette use. Results: Approximately 5% of survey respondents self-reported using e-cigarettes within the past month. More than 7 out of every 10 respondents, however, thought the ‘typical student’ was an e-cigarette user. As perceptions of typical student substance use increased, respondents were far more likely to contend the typical student used e-cigarettes. Discussion: In addition to adopting smoke-free campus policies, university officials should disseminate accurate information regarding e-cigarette behaviors of students.

Strategies for measuring peer alcohol use within egocentric network analysis

Objective Compare different strategies for measuring perceived peer alcohol use within network research. Participants College students (N = 309). Methods Collected demographic, personal alcohol use, and egocentric network data. Hierarchical linear regression analyses predicted egos’ drinking behavior (AUDIT-C scores). Results Egos’ perceptions of nominated peers’ binge-drinking frequency explained a significant portion of variance in egos’ AUDIT-C scores, over and above perceptions of nominated peers’ frequency/typical quantity of alcohol consumption and important demographic covariates. Using more than three items to assess perceived peer alcohol use did not offer statistically significant improvements and may add unnecessary response burden. Conclusions Utilizing the three-item approach (i.e., frequency, quantity, binge-drinking frequency) to assess perceived peer drinking explained more variance in egos’ AUDIT-C scores, as opposed to one- and two-item assessments. Implementing this three-item assessment in egocentric network research can enhance programming efforts targeting reductions in binge drinking among college students within social contexts.

Moderating Effects of Positive Parenting on the Perceived Peer Alcohol Use and Adolescent Alcohol Use Relationship: Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences

Moderating Effects of Positive Parenting on the Perceived Peer Alcohol Use and Adolescent Alcohol Use Relationship: Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences

Maternal Parenting Behaviors Amplify Environmental Influences on Developmental Trajectories of Alcohol Use During Adolescence.

Compared to peer alcohol use, less is known on how parenting practices may modify genetic and environmental contributions to alcohol use longitudinally across adolescence. This study examined whether two maternal parenting behaviors, supervision and harsh parenting, may suppress or amplify genetic and environmental influences on three distinct developmental trajectories of adolescent alcohol use: normative increasing, early-onset, and low trajectories. Participants were drawn from a longitudinal study of a population-based twin sample (N = 842, 84% European descent, 52.7% female). Adolescents self-reported their past year alcohol use at ages 13, 14, 15, and 17years, and their mothers reported their supervision and harsh parenting when twins were 13, 15, and 17years old. Maternal supervision amplified non-shared environmental influence on the normative increasing and early-onset trajectories, whereas maternal harsh parenting amplified shared environmental influence on the early-onset trajectory and non-shared environmental influence on the low trajectory, respectively. The findings suggest maternal parenting practices as a potent developmental context that modulates the environmental influences of other proximal processes on adolescent alcohol use, and suggest that family-based parenting-focused intervention could be especially beneficial for adolescents following the early-onset trajectory.

Frequency of Binge Drinking and Perception of Peer Alcohol Use: A Survey of University Students in a Western Canadian Province.

College and university student binge drinking is a critical health issue, and studies demonstrate students perceive high rates of drinking among their peers. High alcohol consumption and binge drinking are normalized throughout college and university, and there are gross misperceptions of perceived alcohol use among peers. The purpose of our study was to examine differences in perceptions of peer alcohol use after grouping students based on their frequency of binge drinking over a 2-week period. A one-way analysis of variance test was used to compare the differences in the perception of peer alcohol use after grouping students by their frequency of binge drinking. Students who binge drink have significantly higher perceptions of peer alcohol use than their non-binge-drinking and abstaining peers. These findings provide direction toward the feasibility of using perceptions of peer alcohol use to identify at-risk students to curtail dangerous drinking behavior.

AWARE: A Personalized Normative Feedback–Based Group Intervention for Mandated College Students

AWARE is a brief group intervention that was built upon the principles of personalized normative feedback with novel components (Penn State Altoona, n.d.). The purpose of this study was to pilot test the intervention with mandated college students who were referred for alcohol‐related violations (N = 283). Results showed significant postintervention changes. Significant interaction effects between time and race and between time and gender were found. Reduction in the consumption of alcohol use and perception of peer alcohol use were significantly different among non‐White and female participants.

Descriptive norms influence alcohol use among high-school students: a social norms study from Istanbul

ABSTRACT Background The social norms approach, which explores the influence of peer norms on health-compromising behaviors in youth, has been found to be effective in the prevention of drug and alcohol use. Our purpose was to identify the influence of peer norms on the tobacco, alcohol and drug use of high-school students. Methods A sample of high school students in Istanbul were surveyed for their use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use. Sociodemographic variables, academic performance, daily life activities, descriptive and injunctive norms among students were assessed and relevant factors were evaluated using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Results 213 students (105 males, 108 females, mean age 16.04 ± 0.96) filled in the questionnaire completely. The lifetime prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use were 29.9% and 30.9%, respectively. Higher perceived rates of peer alcohol use (descriptive norms) predicted higher lifetime alcohol use (OR: 1.17, 95% CI [1.11– 1.38], p = .04). Recent and lifetime use of tobacco significantly predicted recent and lifetime alcohol use (OR: 5.68, 95%CI [2.56–14.28], p < .01; OR: 9.60; 95%CI [3.09–29.89], p < .01). Conclusions We found that students’ misperceptions about higher peer alcohol use facilitated their own alcohol use. Correcting such misperceptions can contribute to preventive measures in youth.

The Longitudinal Association Between Exposure to Violence and Patterns of Health Risk Behaviors Among African American Youth.

We investigate whether exposure to violence (ETV) during adolescence and emerging adulthood predicts engagement in chronic disease-related health risk behaviors years later among African Americans. A longitudinal study following youth from mid-adolescence (mean age = 14.8 years) to young adulthood (mean age = 32.0 years). Flint, Michigan. Four hundred forty-two African American (96.2%) and mixed African American and White (3.8%) participants. Outcomes were diet, smoking, drinking, and physical inactivity. Covariates were ETV, sex, mother's educational attainment, and substance use by siblings, peers, and parents. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct patterns of adult health risk behaviors and assess the association of youth ETV and identified patterns. Four latent profiles were identified: high substance use (n = 46; 10.41%), high overall risk (n = 71; 16.06%), low overall risk (n = 140; 31.67%) and inactive (n = 185, 41.86%). Relative to the low overall risk profile, ETV was associated with being in the high overall risk profile (b = 0.37, p = 0.04), but not other profiles. Female gender and higher maternal education were associated with being in the inactive profile compared to the low overall risk profile. Peer alcohol and tobacco use were associated with being in the high substance use profile. ETV during adolescence and emerging adulthood increased the risk of engagement in multiple health risk behaviors later in life.

Associations of parental and peer cross-substance use with 12–17-year-old adolescents’ problematic alcohol use: A parent-child dyadic gender analysis

BackgroundAdolescent alcohol use was found to be influenced by parental and peer alcohol use. Drinking behaviors also differed by gender. However, previous studies mainly focused on adolescents’ substance use in relation to the same substance use among their salient others. Hence, this study investigated the cross-substance relationships of alcohol and tobacco use of parents and peers with adolescents’ problematic alcohol use, separately by gender. MethodsData were derived from 4445 adolescents aged 12–17 years from the 2014 National Survey of Substance Use, a nationally representative survey in Taiwan. Problematic alcohol use was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Multivariate multinomial logistic regression was used, stratified by gender. ResultsFor males, maternal (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.73) and peer (aOR = 2.57) alcohol use was related to social drinking (AUDIT < 2); paternal (aOR = 3.58), maternal (aOR = 2.18), peer alcohol use (aOR = 5.37), and their own tobacco use (aOR = 4.72) were related to problem drinking (AUDIT ≥ 2). For females, maternal (aOR = 2.26) and peer (aOR = 2.84) alcohol use was related to social drinking; maternal (aOR = 2.35) and peer tobacco use (aOR = 3.48), and paternal (aOR = 4.56) and peer alcohol use (aOR = 3.36) were linked to problem drinking. ConclusionsBoth male and female adolescents’ alcohol use was associated with their peer alcohol use, and gender differences were found in relation to their parental and peer substance use. Specifically, the parental role-modeling of smoking was only significant in mother-daughter dyads. These findings could inform multifaceted adolescent alcohol prevention programs, tailoring for males and females and also targeting their parental and peer substance use.

Understanding the Progression from Early Alcohol Use Experimentation to Alcohol Use Disorder: Testing Vulnerability by Experience Interactions Using a Two-Part Latent Growth Curve Model.

Most adolescents experiment with alcohol, but a smaller percentage advance to heavy alcohol use (AU) and AU disorder (AUD). Understanding for whom and how early risk leads to AUD is of interest to prevention, treatment, and etiology of AUD. Informed by developmental and behavioral neuroscience theory, the current study tested whether temperament (effortful control, surgency, and negative affect), peer AU (multi-reporter), and AU with parents' permission interacted to distinguish youth who experiment with alcohol from those who escalate to AUD. Community adolescents (N = 765, 53% female) were assessed annually for seven years (Mage = 11.8, range: 10-13 at Year 1; Mage = 18.7; range = 17-20 at year 7). Temperament by early experience interactions were expected to predict amount of AU. Amount of AU was expected to mediate the relationship between the interactions and AUD symptoms (assessed at Years 3 and 7, Mage = 13.8 and 18.7) above and beyond a range of confounds (e.g., problem behavior and parental AU and AUD). Supporting hypotheses, effortful control and surgency interacted with AU with parents' permission and peer AU, respectively, to predict higher amount of AU (R2 = 0.47) and AUD symptoms (R2 = 0.03). Results support developmental and behavioral neuroscience theory. High surgency and low effortful control in conjunction with peer AU and AU with parents' permission were associated with large effects on AU and moderate mediated effects through AU to AUD. AU with parents' permission was risky at low and high effortful control and protective when peers used alcohol.

Health behaviors of German university freshmen during COVID-19 in association with health behaviors of close social ties, living arrangement, and time spent with peers

ABSTRACT Objective The start of university is a critical period for health risk behavior (i.e. eating, physical activity, alcohol use) which can be influenced by expectations and by environmental factors such as living arrangement, health behaviors of close social ties (i.e. parents, partners, peers), and time spent with peers. We investigated associations between environmental factors and current/expected health behaviors of German freshmen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of N = 208 students (82.7% female; M age = 20.90, SD = 4.10) completed an online questionnaire assessing health behaviors and environmental factors at the beginning of their first semester. Results Current and expected physical activity was associated to that of all social ties, current and expected alcohol use to partner's and peers’ alcohol use, while current and expected eating was only associated to peers’ eating. The relationship between partner's or peers’ and participant's alcohol use was moderated by coresidence, with a greater probability of engaging in these behaviors observed in case of coresidence. Perceived peer encouragement for alcohol consumption moderated the relationship between peer alcohol use and the number of drinks consumed by participants per month. Participants who spend more time with peers were more likely to consume higher amounts of alcohol. No differences were found regarding present and expected behaviors of participants who moved out of their parents’ home and those who did not. Conclusion Partners and peers significantly influence students’ health behaviors, particularly alcohol use. Interventions to prevent health risk behaviors among freshmen should therefore address these social ties’ influence.

Drinking among friends: The role of personality in links between online exposure to peer drinking and adolescent alcohol use

The roles of conscientiousness and excitement seeking were investigated in the relationship between exposure to peer alcohol use online and adolescent alcohol consumption. It was hypothesized that higher levels of perceived peer alcohol use online would be associated with reports of higher adolescent alcohol consumption. Additionally, it was proposed that the relationship between perceived levels of peer alcohol use online and individual alcohol consumption would be stronger for adolescents lower in conscientiousness, and higher in excitement seeking, than it was in more conscientious, and less excitement-seeking students. Control variables included gender, pubertal timing, frequency of social networking site use, social networking site investment, and in-person peer alcohol norms. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey from a sample of 1,018 students (M = 16.45 years old, SD = 0.32 years). Higher levels of in-person peer drinking norms and social networking site alcohol exposure were associated with higher adolescent drinking. Furthermore, excitement seeking significantly moderated the relationship between social networking site alcohol exposure and alcohol use. Participants reporting higher excitement seeking appeared more susceptible to online alcohol exposure than those reporting lower excitement seeking. The current study contributes to understandings of adolescent drinking by demonstrating personality differences in adolescent susceptibility to online alcohol consumption norms.

College Students’ Perceptions of Peer Alcohol Use: A Social Network Analytic Approach

Background: Traditional measures attempting to capture students’ perceptions of peer drinking fail to capture the unique social influence of their most proximal peers. Purpose: This study presents egocentric social network data assessing the relationship between students’ personal drinking behaviors and those of their closest social ties. Methods: 697 college students participated in the study by reporting on demographic information, alcohol use (AUDIT scores), and egocentric networks. Hierarchical linear regression assessed whether egocentric network variables uniquely predicted personal alcohol use, controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and Greek-life affiliation. Results: Students with higher AUDIT scores were more likely to nominate persons close to them that engaged in more frequent, higher quantity drinking, and were also likely to mirror drinking behaviors to that of their close ties. Conclusion: Future studies should utilize SNA to capture the nuance associated with individuals’ perceptions of close others’ alcohol use and their own drinking behaviors. Interventions aimed at reducing collegiate drinking should consider the interpersonal nature of drinking behaviors among college student networks.