Group identification as a moderator of the relationship between perceived social norms and alcohol consumption.

Neighbors, Clayton; LaBrie, Joseph W.; Hummer, Justin F.; Lewis, Melissa A.; Lee, Christine M.; Desai, Sruti; Kilmer, Jason R.; Larimer, Mary E.

doi:10.1037/a0019944

Cited by 231 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Social Identity Theory (Abrams and Hogg, 1999;Terry and Hogg, 1996) suggests that an individual's behavior is governed more greatly by the groups the individual identifi es with or refers to in seeking appropriate normative behavior. Consistent with this perspective, recent fi ndings have shown social identity to moderate the infl uence of perceived norms on drinking (Neighbors et al, 2010;Reed et al, 2007).…”

Section: Religiousness and Alcoholmentioning

confidence: 76%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reliance on God, Prayer, and Religion Reduces Influence of Perceived Norms on Drinking

Neighbors

Brown

DiBello

et al. 2013

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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ABSTRACT. Objective: Previous research has shown that perceived social norms are among the strongest predictors of drinking among young adults. Research has also consistently found religiousness to be protective against risk and negative health behaviors. The present research evaluates the extent to which reliance on God, prayer, and religion moderates the association between perceived social norms and drinking. Method: Participants (n = 1,124 undergraduate students) completed a cross-sectional survey online, which included measures of perceived norms, religious values, and drinking. Perceived norms were assessed by asking participants their perceptions of typical student drinking. Drinking outcomes included drinks per week, drinking frequency, and typical quantity consumed. Results: Regression analyses indicated that religiousness and perceived norms had signifi cant unique associations in opposite directions for all three drinking outcomes. Signifi cant interactions were evident between religiousness and perceived norms in predicting drinks per week, frequency, and typical quantity. In each case, the interactions indicated weaker associations between norms and drinking among those who assigned greater importance to religiousness. Conclusions: The extent of the relationship between perceived social norms and drinking was buffered by the degree to which students identifi ed with religiousness. A growing body of literature has shown interventions including personalized feedback regarding social norms to be an effective strategy in reducing drinking among college students. The present research suggests that incorporating religious or spiritual values into student interventions may be a promising direction to pursue. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 74, 361-368, 2013)

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Section: Religiousness and Alcoholmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Personalized normative feedback alone has also been shown to measurably reduce drinking among heavy drinkers for up to 2 years (Neighbors et al, , 2010. Group-based live interactive norms feedback has also been effective in reducing groupspecifi c normative misperceptions and subsequent drinking (Killos et al, 2010;LaBrie et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliance on God, Prayer, and Religion Reduces Influence of Perceived Norms on Drinking

Neighbors

Brown

DiBello

et al. 2013

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

Self Cite

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“…More recently, investigations have begun to consider the importance of who the "others" are, how they relate to the perceiver, and how these factors might translate into improved strategies for prevention and treatment. Although some research has considered who the "others" are from a subjective standpoint (i.e., quality of the peer relationships or how closely one identifi es with the relevant group; Borsari and Carey, 2006;Neighbors et al, 2010a;Reed et al, 2007), other research has evaluated specifi city as a function of more objectively defi ned group membership based on demographic representation (e.g., Larimer et al, 2009;Lewis and Neighbors, 2006), gender Suls and Green, 2003), and class standing (Pedersen et al, 2010), among other dimensions. The present research represents the most comprehensive evaluation of the infl uence of group specifi city of drinking norms on alcohol consumption to date.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The quality of peer relationships in terms of level of intimacy, stability, and perceived support appears to be important in determining the magnitude and direction of peer infl uences on drinking (Borsari and Carey, 2006). Recent studies found that greater identifi cation with a given group moderates associations between perceived drinking norms for that group and one's own drinking (Neighbors et al, 2010a;Reed et al, 2007).…”

Section: Specifi City Of the Normative Referent Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Descriptive Drinking Norms: For Whom Does Reference Group Matter?

Larimer

Neighbors

LaBrie

et al. 2011

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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ABSTRACT. Objective: Perceived descriptive drinking norms often differ from actual norms and are positively related to personal consumption. However, it is not clear how normative perceptions vary with specifi city of the reference group. Are drinking norms more accurate and more closely related to drinking behavior as reference group specifi city increases? Do these relationships vary as a function of participant demographics? The present study examined the relationship between perceived descriptive norms and drinking behavior by ethnicity (Asian or White), sex, and fraternity/sorority status. Method: Participants were 2,699 (58% female) White (75%) or Asian (25%) undergraduates from two universities who reported their own alcohol use and perceived descriptive norms for eight reference groups: "typical student"; same sex, ethnicity, or fraternity/sorority status; and all combinations of these three factors. Results: Participants generally reported the highest perceived norms for the most distal reference group (typical student), with perceptions becoming more accurate as individuals' similarity to the reference group increased. Despite increased accuracy, participants perceived that all reference groups drank more than was actually the case. Across specifi c subgroups (fraternity/sorority members and men) different patterns emerged. Fraternity/sorority members reliably reported higher estimates of drinking for reference groups that included fraternity/ sorority status, and, to a lesser extent, men reported higher estimates for reference groups that included men. Conclusions: The results suggest that interventions targeting normative misperceptions may need to provide feedback based on participant demography or group membership. Although reference group-specifi c feedback may be important for some subgroups, typical student feedback provides the largest normative discrepancy for the majority of students. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 72,

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“…In social marketing, this has led to the development of the social norms approach (Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004), a marketing technique that attempts to influence behaviour by changing perceptions of what is normal (Lewis and Neighbors, 2006;Neighbors et al, 2010;Burchell et al forthcoming). According to the literature, this approach has proven successful in influencing bullying (Perkins et al, 2009), substance abuse amongst students (Perkins, 2003;Bosari and Carey, 2003;Berkowitz, 2005;McAlaney and McMahon, 2007;Neighbors et al, 2008;Moreira et al, 2009), household recycling (Shultz, 1999;Nomura et al, 2011), hotel towel re-use , the payment of tax debts (Cabinet Office, 2012) and domestic electricity consumption (Allcott, 2011;Ayres et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is social norms marketing effective?

Harries

Rettie

Studley

et al. 2013

European Journal of Marketing

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present details of a large-scale experiment that evaluated the impact of communicating two types of feedback to householders regarding their domestic electricity consumption: feedback on their own consumption and feedback of both their own consumption and that of others in their locality. Design/methodology/approach -Digital technologies were used to automatically measure and communicate the electricity consumption of 316 UK residents for a period of 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: one involving no feedback; one involving feedback about a household's own usage, and one involving a household's own usage plus social norms feedback (the average consumption of others in the locality). At the end of the study, a selection of participants took part in interviews or focus groups. Findings -Both types of feedback (individual and individual-plus-social-norms) led to reductions in consumption of about 3 per cent. Those receiving social norms feedback were significantly more likely to engage with the information provided. However, the social norms information had no additional impact on consumption. Survey and interview data confirmed that participants from both conditions had been encouraged to adopt new energy-saving practices. The study concludes that near real-time individual feedback can be sufficient for usage reduction if it is provided in a historical format. It also suggests that the impact of social norms information may previously have been confounded with that of individual feedback. Originality/value -This is the first time that a controlled experiment in the field of domestic electricity consumption has compared the impact of real-time social norm information with that of information that only contains individual household usage.

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Group identification as a moderator of the relationship between perceived social norms and alcohol consumption.

Cited by 231 publications

References 47 publications

Reliance on God, Prayer, and Religion Reduces Influence of Perceived Norms on Drinking

Reliance on God, Prayer, and Religion Reduces Influence of Perceived Norms on Drinking

Descriptive Drinking Norms: For Whom Does Reference Group Matter?

Is social norms marketing effective?

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