Adolescents’ Selective Exposure to Substance Use on Social Media

A Relational Approach

Abstract

Adolescents frequently encounter depictions of substance use on social media, with numerous studies demonstrating that such exposure affects their offline behaviour. As substance use initiation is often attributed to peer influence, it is crucial to identify the drivers of adolescents’ exposure to substance-related content shared by peers online. Such insights can inform prevention efforts targeting adolescents and support future research in assessing exposure effects. In this article, we draw on both selective exposure theory and the concept of curated flows to investigate adolescents’ exposure to their peers online. We conceptualise exposure at the dyadic level—that is, as involving a recipient and a communicator acting as communication partners. Exposure is influenced by four types of drivers: (1) individual dispositions and media use patterns of both recipient and communicator, (2) dyadic similarities and relationships, (3) communication structures among adjacent users and (4) communication mechanisms of intermediaries. Applying this approach, we explore adolescents’ exposure to alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes and cannabis-related content posted by peers on Instagram and Snapchat. Through social network analysis, we find that exposure is associated with communicators’ display of alcohol and e-cigarettes on Snapchat, gender and school class similarities and friendship relations. We discuss the implications of these findings for prevention efforts and future research.