Why Do Kids Drink? The Role of Norms and Attitudes

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Why Do Kids Drink?The Role of Norms and Attitudes

• William B. Hansen, Ph.D.
• Tanglewood Research
• Greensboro, North Carolina

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Norms

• Refers to two concepts
• How common a behavior is
• How acceptable a behavior is
• Can be applied
• To an entire society
• To generational, cultural, religious, and ethnic
  sub-groups within our society

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The Prevalence of Drinking
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The Frequency of Drinking
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The Intensity of Drinking
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Where Do We Gain Information about Norms?

• Multiple sources provide information and feedback
• Social interaction (stories, jokes, observed
  behaviors, comments, criticism)
• Entertainment Media (television, radio, movies,
  Internet)
• Advertising Media (ads, product placements)

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Normative Beliefsand Attitudes

• What an individual perceives to be the case about
  their reference group
• Is often naïve, biased, and incorrect
• Ultimately shapes behavior of the individual and
  the group

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Remember Prevalence?
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How Do Different Groups of Drinkers Estimate
Prevalence?
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How Do Different Groups of Drinkers View Social
Acceptability?
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Sample School-Based NormNorm Setting Programs

• All Stars (Hansen/Tanglewood Research)
• Life Skills Training (Botvin/National Health
  Promotion Associates)
• Project ALERT (Ellickson/RAND Best Foundation)
• Project Northland (Perry/University of Minnesota)

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Educational Strategies for Establishing
Conventional Norms

• Collect information from individuals
• Calculate actual prevalence of use
• Portray actual attitudes about use
• Provide believable and persuasive feedback
• Encourage the group to actively adopt
  conventional norms

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Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial Results
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Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial Results
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Norm Setting Conclusions

• Education programs
• can help establish conventional norms about
  alcohol (but cannot do it all)
• need periodic and continual reinforcement to have
  lasting effects
• Community programs
• social interaction, educational media and
  advertising create a constant background against
  which programs compete
• basic system-wide changes in norms can have large
  and lasting effects

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