Social media can influence drinking behaviors by promoting alcohol consumption as a socially accepted coping mechanism, increasing perceived norms around drinking, and shaping individuals’ attitudes through repeated exposure to alcohol-related content and peer comparisons.
Lorenz, E., & Behm-Morawitz, E. (2025). Wine mom culture: Investigating social media influence on mothers’ alcohol norms. Psychology of Popular Media, 14(2), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000535
Key Points
- Focus: The study explores how “wine mom” social media content influences mothers’ beliefs about alcohol consumption.
- Aims: To examine whether exposure to wine mom or sober mom messaging on social media affects mothers’ drinking norms and to investigate the role of social comparison, drinking identity, and prior media exposure in shaping these beliefs.
- Findings: Exposure to wine mom content significantly increased mothers’ beliefs about social approval (injunctive norms) of drinking, especially among those with previous exposure to similar content; however, social comparison predicted increased beliefs about how common drinking is (descriptive norms).
- Implications: These findings suggest social media content can shape norms regarding alcohol consumption, potentially leading to increased risky drinking behaviors among mothers.
Rationale
“Wine mom” culture, characterized by social media content encouraging mothers to drink alcohol as a coping mechanism, has risen significantly.
This cultural trend coincides with increasing risky drinking behaviors among mothers, highlighting the need to understand media influence on alcohol-related norms.
Previous research has linked media exposure to alcohol-related perceptions among younger demographics, but less is known about its effects on mothers.
Thus, the next logical step involves empirically examining the influence of social media exposure, specifically “wine mom” and “sober mom” content, on mothers’ drinking beliefs to inform health interventions and media literacy programs.
Method
An experimental online survey method was employed where mothers were randomly assigned to view “wine mom,” “sober mom,” or neutral social media content and then reported their alcohol-related beliefs.
Procedure
- Participants randomly assigned to one of three groups (wine mom, sober mom, control).
- Viewed nine curated Instagram posts corresponding to their assigned group.
- Completed questionnaires assessing alcohol norms, social comparison, previous media exposure, drinking identity, and demographic details.
Sample
- 330 mothers with an average age of 36 years.
- Predominantly White (82%) with high educational levels (67% had a bachelor’s or higher).
- Most participants employed outside the home (65% full-time).
Measures
- Social Comparison Orientation: Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure adapted for mothers.
- Injunctive Norms: Semantic differential scales measuring perceived approval by other mothers of alcohol use.
- Descriptive Norms: Likelihood estimations of average mother drinking frequency.
- Risky Drinking Behavior: AUDIT-C Questionnaire to assess alcohol consumption risk.
- Previous Exposure to Drinking Messages: Frequency of exposure to alcohol content on social media and television.
- Drinking Identity: Scale assessing self-identification with drinking.
Statistical Measures
- Regression analyses and moderation analyses using SPSS PROCESS macro, controlling for education and AUDIT scores.
Results
- Exposure to wine mom content significantly increased injunctive norms among mothers already familiar with such content.
- Social comparison orientation increased descriptive norms, but this effect was not specifically linked to wine mom content exposure.
- Limited previous exposure to wine mom messaging on television resulted in lower descriptive norms.
- Drinking identity did not significantly affect alcohol-related norms.
Insight
This study highlights how specific social media content shapes mothers’ beliefs regarding alcohol use, emphasizing that cumulative exposure intensifies perceptions of social approval.
The findings extend previous research by confirming media’s role in norm formation among mothers, a demographic less studied previously.
Future research could explore further identity factors, representation accuracy, and differences across media platforms to deepen understanding of alcohol-related norm formation.
Implications
Practitioners and policymakers should recognize the impact of curated social media environments on mothers’ drinking norms.
Strategies could include media literacy education to help mothers critically engage with such content and promoting alternative coping mechanisms to alcohol use.
However, the entrenched popularity of “wine mom” content and algorithmic reinforcement present implementation challenges.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
- Use of an experimental design allowing for causality assessment.
- Inclusion of multiple moderating variables (social comparison, prior exposure, identity).
- Real-world social media content ensuring high external validity.
Limitations
This study also had several limitations, including:
- Predominantly White, educated sample limiting generalizability.
- Potential order effects due to fixed presentation order of social media posts.
- Artificial exposure settings may not fully replicate real-world social media interactions.
Socratic Questions
- How might social media algorithms amplify the effects of wine mom messaging?
- Could alternative coping strategies promoted via social media effectively counteract wine mom messaging?
- How would inclusion of more diverse demographics influence the study’s findings?
- What other forms of media (e.g., podcasts, blogs) could similarly influence mothers’ alcohol norms?
- In what ways could media literacy programs mitigate the impact of wine mom culture?
