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Students Inflate How Much Peers Drink

Research has found that college students tend to greatly overestimate the percentage of their peers who drink heavily. Prevention experts worry that such a distorted view of subjective drinking norms might actually drive up student alcohol consumption. In response, “social norms marketing” (SNM) campaigns have been designed to correct misperceptions of subjective drinking norms, hopefully driving down alcohol consumption. This study of SNM campaigns is the most rigorous evaluation conducted to date.

Researchers carried out their study at 18 institutions of higher education–reflecting all four U.S. census regions– that were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The treatment institutions ran SNM campaigns for three academic years (Fall 2000 to Spring 2003), delivering school-specific, data-driven messages through a mix of campus media venues. Students from all 18 institutions were surveyed for their “alcohol norms and behavior” both at baseline and post-test.

Results indicate that students attending institutions that had implemented an SNM campaign had a lower relative risk of alcohol consumption than students attending institutions that had not.

(DeJong, W, Kessel Schneider, S, Gomberg Towvim, L, Murphy, MJ, Doerr, EE, Simonsen, NR, Mason, KE, Scribner, RA: A multisite randomized trial of social norms marketing campaigns to reduce college student drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 67:868-879, 2006.)
Editors Ratings: S=4 V=3 O=4

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