A Social Media Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention for Heavy Drinking College Students

Project Smash (Social Media Alcohol Session for Health)

This study seeks to evaluate the unique and synergistic efficacy of social media-specific personalized normative feedback targeting the reduction of alcohol use among heavy-drinking college students who post alcohol-related content on social media.

Hypothesis: Alcohol personalized normative feedback, social media-specific personalized normative feedback, and the Alcohol personalized normative feedback+ social media-specific personalized normative feedback conditions will be more effective in reducing drinking than the attention control condition.

Inclusion Criteria:

• College students recruited across three universities: Duquesne University, Miami University, and University of Houston (DU, MU, UH)
• Undergraduate college students 18 to 26 years old
• Meet heavy drinking (4+ drinks in one sitting for individuals assigned female at birth, 5+ drinks in one sitting for individuals assigned male at birth in the past month) and ARC (alcohol-related content) posting criteria (2+ ARC posts in the last 30 days for individuals assigned female at birth, 1+ for individuals assigned male at birth, on either Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or TikTok)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant or of another protected population