Perception and reality: a national evaluation of social norms marketing interventions to reduce college students' heavy alcohol use.

Wechsler, Henry; Nelson, Toben F.; Lee, Jae Eun; Seibring, Mark; Lewis, Catherine E.; Keeling, Richard P.

doi:10.15288/jsa.2003.64.484

Cited by 327 publications

(210 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Social marketing strategies that promote a latent healthy drinking norm in hopes that it will encourage students to reduce their own consumption have also become popular, although the empirical evidence for these programs is mixed [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

College Student Binge Drinking and the “Prevention Paradox”: Implications for Prevention and Harm Reduction

Weitzman

Nelson

2004

J Drug Educ

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Considerable attention has been paid to heavy episodic or "binge" drinking among college youth in the United States. Despite widespread use, the binge measure is perceived by some as a low intervention threshold. We use data from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (n = 49,163) to describe patterns of consumption and harms along a continuum including the binge measure to demonstrate the validity of the binge threshold and prevention paradox in college. While the heaviest drinkers are at greatest risk for harm, they are relatively few and generate proportionately small amounts of all drinking-harms. The risk of harms is not zero among lower level drinkers in college. Because they are numerous, they account for the majority of harms. This paradoxical pattern suggests we moderate consumption among the majority using environmental approaches, the efficacy of which are described using case study data from a national prevention demonstration. Implications for prevention policy, programming, and media advocacy are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

College Student Binge Drinking and the “Prevention Paradox”: Implications for Prevention and Harm Reduction

Weitzman

Nelson

2004

J Drug Educ

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“…Furthermore, there is some evidence in favor of the effectiveness of social norm interventions (DeJong et al, 2006;Mattern and Neighbors, 2004;Perkins and Craig, 2006), although not all interventions have proven successful Clapp et al, 2003;DeJong et al, 2009;Thombs and Hamilton, 2002;Wechsler et al, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy Episodic Drinking and Alcohol Consumption in French Colleges: The Role of Perceived Social Norms

França

Dautzenberg

Reynaud

2009

Alcoholism Clin & Exp Res

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Background: The effect of normative perceptions (social norms) on heavy episodic drinking (HED) behavior is well known in the U.S. college setting, but little work is available in other cultural contexts. The objective of this study is therefore to assess whether social norms of alcohol use are related to HED in France, taking account of other influential predictors.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 731 second-year university students in the Paris region to explore the role of 29 potential alcohol use risk factors. The probability of heavy episodic drinking and the frequency of HED among heavy episodic drinkers were modeled independently. Monthly alcohol consumption was also assessed.Results: Of the students, 56% overestimate peer student prevalence of HED (37% for alcohol drinking prevalence). HED frequency rises with perceived peer student prevalence of HED. Other social norms associated with HED are perceived friends' approval of HED (increasing both HED probability and HED frequency) and perceived friend prevalence of alcohol drinking (increasing HED probability only). Cannabis and tobacco use, academic discipline, gender, and the number of friends are also identified as being associated with HED.Conclusions: Overestimation of peer student prevalence is not uncommon among French university students. Furthermore, perceived peer student prevalence of HED is linked to HED frequency, even after adjusting for other correlates. Interventions correcting misperceived prevalences of HED among peer students have therefore the potential to reduce the frequency of HED in this population.

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“…As noted, earlier social norm campaigns typically focused on correcting misperceptions of substance abuse prevalence (Haines and Spear 1996;Mattern and Neighbors 2004;Neighbors et al 2004). These campaigns have been met with mixed results (Barnett et al 1996;Cunningham et al 2001;Thombs et al 2004;Werch et al 2000;Weschler et al 2003). Capitalizing on, and making explicit the linkage of SPEs concerning substance use and social acceptance or popularity might increase the success of social norm interventions directed toward adolescents (Hansen and Graham 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this reason, expectations and social norms are commonly considered different constructs (Tickle et al 2006;Wood et al 1992). Moreover, considering the mixed results associated with social norm campaigns (Barnett et al 1996;Cunningham et al 2001;Thombs et al 2004;Werch et al 2000;Weschler et al 2003), this current study has the potential to provide a step in a different direction for future efforts-one that has a more explicit focus on the relationship between SPEs and substance use. (2007) refer to as normative beliefs: "...the perceived behavioral expectations of important referent individuals or groups such as the person's family, friends, co-workers, and health professionals" (p. 46).…”

Section: Choosing the Most Valued Inhalant-relevant Expectanciesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Influencing Inhalant Intentions by Changing Socio-Personal Expectations

et al. 2008

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This study investigates an approach for reducing inhalant initiation among younger adolescents: altering Socio-Personal Expectations (SPEs), a term referring to perceived linkages between behavior and personally relevant social outcomes. The study focuses specifically on SPEs regarding outcomes associated with increased social status and popularity. An anti-inhalant message was embedded within a short anti-bullying education video. Young adolescents (N=893) were assigned randomly to receive a message focused on the physical or the social harms of inhalant use. The objectives of this study were to test: (1) the malleability of SPEs, (2) SPEs' predictive validity for future inhalant use, and (3) whether being exposed to a socio-personal threat, rather than a physical threat, led to different variables affecting drug-relevant decision-making processes. Analysis of variance suggested the malleability of SPEs (p<.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that SPEs were predictive of future inhalant use. SPEs accounted for a significant portion of variance in future intentions over and above demographic variables, prior use, psychosocial variables, and perceived physical harm (R 2 =.26, p<.01). Moreover, being exposed to a social, rather than a physical threat, message resulted in different variables being predictive of future intentions to use inhalants. KeywordsInhalants; Prevention; Expectations; Health campaign; Health behavior; Socio-personal expectations Use of volatile chemical substances that produce vapors that are inhaled to achieve mindaltering effects is dangerous and potentially fatal (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA] 2005). Common inhalant substances are solvents, aerosols, gases and nitrites (NIDA 2005). They can be obtained from butane lighters, paint solvents, some glues, gasoline, and other everyday products. A rapid high may be achieved when these vapors are inhaled, often resulting in physical and mental changes (dizziness, increased heart rate, impaired judgment, etc.). These drugs can be dangerous, as even first-time use can cause sudden sniffing death within minutes (NIDA 2005). Long-term users may suffer from muscle weakness, disorientation, depression, and permanent damage to brain, heart, kidneys, and liver, and are more likely to engage in injection drug use (Crano et al. 2008;Dinwiddie 1994;Dinwiddie et al. 1991).Inhalant use during early adolescence is especially problematic. Inhalants uniquely appeal to young adolescents because they are cheap, easily obtained, and provide a rapid if short-lived Correspondence to: Jason T. Siegel. Past media campaigns designed to curtail or prevent inhalant use typically have focused on the physical harms attendant to usage (PDFA 2005). An assumption implicit in this approach is that by drawing attention to physical harms, users will desist and nonusers will not start. This assumption may be true, but inferences regarding physical well-being are not the only factors controlling use of dangerous substances. In related research, Milam et ...

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Perception and reality: a national evaluation of social norms marketing interventions to reduce college students' heavy alcohol use.

Cited by 327 publications

References 32 publications

College Student Binge Drinking and the “Prevention Paradox”: Implications for Prevention and Harm Reduction

College Student Binge Drinking and the “Prevention Paradox”: Implications for Prevention and Harm Reduction

Heavy Episodic Drinking and Alcohol Consumption in French Colleges: The Role of Perceived Social Norms

Influencing Inhalant Intentions by Changing Socio-Personal Expectations

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