Perception and Reality: A National Evaluation of Social Norms Marketing Interventions to Reduce College Students' Heavy Alcohol

Excerpt from Harvard School of Public Health: College Alcohol Study

Objective: To evaluate a widely used intervention to reduce college student alcohol use, we studied student drinking patterns at colleges that employed social-norms marketing programs and those that did not.

Method: We examined responses of students in the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS) 1997, 1999, and 2001 data sets at 37 colleges that employed social norms marketing programs and at 61 that did not. Information about the students' drinking behavior and their familiarity with social-norms marketing messages at their schools was analyzed, as were college administrators' reports about the implementation of social-norms marketing campaigns. Schools were grouped on the basis of student reports of exposure to programmatic materials. Trend analyses were conducted on seven standard measures of alcohol consumption, including annual and 30- day use, frequency, usual quantity and volume consumed, heavy episodic use, and drunkenness.

Results: Almost half of the CAS colleges sampled adopted social-norms programs. Those that did were more likely to have large enrollments, not be religiously affiliated, and have high rates of alcohol use. No decreases were noted in any of the seven measures of alcohol use at schools with social-norms programs, even when student exposure and length of program existence were considered. Increases in measures of monthly alcohol use and total volume consumed were observed at schools employing social-norms programs.

Conclusions: The current study does not provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of social-norms marketing programs, as currently utilized, in reducing alcohol use among college students.

These conclusions were outlined in two articles: one from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Popular Program to Curb Campus Drinking Faulted," and in the Washington Post, "College Study Faults Anti-Alcohol Program." Below are several points in respect to the study:

Michael Haines, Director of the National Social Norms Resource Center states, "I wouldn't be surprised that schools that do lousy social norms don't get good results."

According to this study, "the social norms approach assumes that students drink because they think their peers are doing the same and they want to fit in. The problem, according to the approach, is that most students think others are drinking more so they drink in order to keep up. Social norms marketing tries to correct the misperception with messages such as "Most students have five or fewer drinks when they party" distributed on posters, fliers, and other mass media around campus."

A survey carried out reports that "almost half of all U.S. four-year, residential colleges and universities have conducted or are conducting social norms campaigns." And the authors say in spite of these campaigns "there is little empirical data to support the method." The social norm marketing approach is popular because it is easy, and cheap, and schools can point to the report and say "there's less of a problem here than people think."

According to Haines, the majority of schools in this study represent groups that are "caught up in the idea" of the social norms approach. To them it's "novel and intriguing..." and they "jump from one conference or training program to slapping some posters up... and "that's not social norms."

Alan Berkowitz, a consultant who helped develop the theory behind social norms campaigns, defended its use in colleges to curb drinking. "No one is saying that social norms will solve every problem," he said "but that doesn't mean it's not a valid approach."

Sources:

Harvard School of Public Health

Click here for the article.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Click here for the article.

washingtonpost.com

Click here for the article.

Original Publication:

Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 2003; 64(4): 484-494.