Tapping Into Motivations for Drinking Among Youth: Normative Beliefs About Alcohol Use Among Underage Drinkers in the United States

Abstract

Social norms affect human behavior, and underage drinking is no exception. Using the theory of normative social behavior (TNSB), this paper tested the proposition that the association between perceptions about the prevalence of drinking (descriptive norms) and underage drinking is strengthened when perceived pressures to conform (injunctive norms) and beliefs about the benefits of drinking (outcome expectations) are high. This proposition was tested on a nationally representative sample of underage drinkers, ages 13–20, (N = 1,031) in relation to their alcohol consumption, expanding on research with college-age youth. On average, males and females reported drinking 23 and 18 drinks per month, respectively. The main effect of descriptive norms (β = .10, p < .01) on alcohol consumption was modified by interactions with injunctive norms (β = .11, p < .01), benefit to self (β = .12, p < .001), and benefit to others (β = .10, p < .01). Underage drinkers are most vulnerable to excessive drinking if they believe that most others drink, that they themselves are expected to drink, and that drinking confers several benefits. Norms-based interventions to reduce youth alcohol use need to focus on changing not only descriptive norms, but also injunctive norms and outcome expectations.

Association between Australian adolescent alcohol use and alcohol use risk and protective factors in 2011 and 2014

“…This is further reinforced through the increased predictive power of some risk factors in the 2014 sample; for example, while fewer participants report having friends who drink alcohol, this risk factor had a stronger association with alcohol use in 2014 compared to 2011. Similarly, the findings are consistent with previous studies regarding the influence of perceived social norms on adolescent behaviour; as adolescent drinking declines, the socially normative nature of this behaviour also declines [33][34][35].…”

The role of normative beliefs in the mediation of a school-based drug prevention program: A secondary analysis of the #Tamojunto cluster-randomized trial

“…It is important to state that the role of normative beliefs in prevention programs still remains controversial [59–61]. Two studies from the same group [62,63] found contradictory results among college students and their perceptions and attitudes towards alcohol [59]. Posterior analyses of the same samples found that interventions focusing on normative beliefs had variable efficacy, according to the characteristics of the communities where they were implemented [64].…”

Social Norm, Family Communication, and HBV Screening among Asian Americans

“…The literature provides strong evidence for the impact of social norms on a variety of behaviors, including alcohol consumption (Padon, Rimal, Jernigan, Siegel, & DeJong, 2016; Pedersen et al, 2017; Rimal, 2008; Rimal & Mollen, 2013), tobacco use (Ali & Dwyer, 2009; Mead, Rimal, Ferrence, & Cohen, 2014; Mereish, Goldbach, Burgess, & DiBello, 2017), cannabis use (Ecker & Buckner, 2014; Mereish et al, 2017), healthy food consumption (Mollen, Rimal, Ruiter, & Kok, 2013), contraceptive use (Rimal & Lapinski, 2015), and HIV testing (Batona, Gagnon, Simonyan, Guedou, & Alary, 2015). Findings on the role of norms do vary, however.…”