Online discrimination fuels drinking by Hispanic college students
UTSW-led study finds social media stressors can create a harmful cycle of alcohol use
DALLAS – Oct. 28, 2025 – Hispanic college students who encounter racial or ethnic discrimination on social media are more likely to turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism, according to a study led by a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher.
Nearly 90% of Hispanic students surveyed reported experiencing online racial or ethnic discrimination (RED), researchers found. The study, published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, found that higher levels of RED exposure were associated with greater alcohol consumption through what experts call “coping drinking motives” – the use of alcohol to manage stress or negative emotions.
“Social media exert a powerful influence on young people, and seeing or hearing frequent racial or ethnic slurs or threats is a significant stressor,” said study leader Miguel Ángel Cano, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health. “This is a growing concern, because we know from other studies that Hispanics report increasing levels of racism on social media. Our findings suggest that discrimination may fuel harmful drinking patterns, but they also point to potential solutions, including helping students build healthier coping strategies.”
To conduct the study, Dr. Cano and his colleagues analyzed data collected by the Project on Hispanic Emerging Adults and Resilience to Thrive (Project HEART) via surveys of 423 students (300 women and 123 men) from Florida International University and the University of Houston who reported drinking alcohol over 12 months.
Participants were asked about their exposure to RED, their alcohol use and level of severity, their reliance on coping drinking motives, and their psychological resilience. Researchers found statistically significant links between exposure to social media discrimination and coping drinking motives, as well as between coping drinking motives and alcohol use severity.
“These associations suggest that exposure to discrimination creates a harmful cycle of stress that begins with drinking as a coping mechanism and can eventually lead to the misuse of alcohol and even alcohol addiction,” Dr. Cano said. “Because college students are both heavy social media users and frequent drinkers, they may be especially vulnerable to this cycle.”
One promising finding is that higher levels of resilience – capacity to achieve positive adaptation despite exposure to adversity and stressful experiences – reduced the likelihood of turning to alcohol after exposure to discrimination.
“Psychological resilience appears to serve as a moderator of sorts, reducing the need to use alcohol to alleviate RED-related stress,” Dr. Cano explained. “Further study may enable us to identify ways to help students build resilience, deflect negative messaging, and utilize healthy coping processes, which could make a significant positive impact on how emerging adult Hispanics manage social media discrimination.”
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 25 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 140,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5.1 million outpatient visits a year.