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  Primary Topics - Misperceptions

There are over fifty (50) published studies documenting the misperception of peer norms for a variety of substances and behaviors. Many of these studies are described in detail in several recent reviews of the literature by Berkowitz (2004), Perkins (2003), and Borsari and Carey (2003).

Misperception of the norms of peer alcohol use have been documented in a number of college and university social norms interventions (Haines and Spear, 1996; Johannessen et al., 2001; Perkins and Craig, 2003; Jeffrey et al., 2003; Fabiano, 2003). It should be noted, however, that misperceptions of student alcohol use are held by all members of the college and university campus community, from the students themselves to faculty and staff (Berkowitz, 1997; Berkowitz and Perkins, 1986; University of Michigan, 1993).

In addition, two separate studies using nationwide databases drawn from colleges and universities have documented that college students typically misperceive their peer drinking norms. One of these studies (Perkins et al., 2005), based on a sample of more than 76,000 students attending 130 colleges and universities across the nation, found that, regardless of the actual campus drinking norm (i.e., be it low, moderate, or high), a consistently large percentage of students nationwide overestimated the quantity of alcohol consumed by their peers. A prior study (Perkins et al., 1999) using a nationwide database drawn from 100 colleges and universities documented that college students typically misperceive their peer substance use norms by substantially overestimating how frequently the typical students uses a variety of substances, including alcohol.

Misperception of the norms of peer alcohol use have also been documented in a statewide sample of both college and non-college young adults (Linkenbach and Perkins, 2003), as well as among middle and high school students (Beck and Treiman, 1996; Botvin et al., 2001; D'Amico et al., 2001; Haines et al., 2003; Perkins and Craig, 2003; Thombs et al., 1997).

Misperception of peer substance use is not limited to alcohol, however, A number of studies have documented misperceptions of the prevalence of cigarette smoking among peers (Haines et al., 2003; Hancock and Henry, 2003; Linkenbach and Perkins, 2003; Perkins and Craig, 2002) as well as marijuana and other illegal drugs use (Hansen and Graham, 1991; Perkins, 1985; Perkins and Craig, 2003; Perkins et al., 1999; Pollard et al., 2000; Wolfson, 2000).

Interestingly, misperceptions have also been documented for a variety of other behaviors, including tax compliance (Wenzel, 2001), gambling (Larimer and Neighbors, 2003), and bullying (Bigsby, 2002).

References

Australian National University, Centre for Tax System Integrity, Research School of Social Sciences (2001). Misperceptions of social norms about tax compliance (2): A field experiment. (No.8). Canberra, Australia: Wenzel, M.

Beck, K.H. & Treiman, K.A. (1996). The relationship of social context drinking, perceived social norms, and parental influence to various drinking patterns of adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 21(5), 633-644.

Berkowitz, A.D. (2005). An overview of the social norms approach. In L. Lederman & L. Stewart (Eds.), Changing the culture of college drinking: A socially situated prevention campaign (pp.187-2008). Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Berkowitz, A. D. (1997). From reactive to proactive prevention: Promoting an ecology of health on campus. In P.C. Rivers, & E. Shore (Eds.), A handbook on substance abuse for college and university personnel (pp.119-139). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Bigsby, M.J. (2002). Seeing eye to eye? Comparing students' and parents' perceptions of bullying behavior. School of Social Work Journal, 27(1), 37-57.

Borsari, B., & Carey, K.B. (2003). Decriptive and injunctive norms in college drinking: A meta-analytic integration. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64 (3), 331-341.

Botvin, G.J. , Griffin K.W., Diaz, T. & Ifill-Williams, M. (2001). Preventing binge drinking during early adolescence: One- and two-year follow-up of a school based preventive intervention. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 15, 360-365.

D'Amico, E.J. , Metrik J., McCarthy D.M., Frissell K.C., Appelbaum M., & Brown S.A. (2001). Progression into and out of binge drinking among high school students. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 15, 341-349.

Fabiano, P. M. (2003). Applying the social norms model to universal and indicated alcohol interventions at Western Washington University. In H.W. Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.83-99). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Glider, P., Midyett, S.J., Mills-Novoa, B., Johannessen, J., & Collins, C. (2001). Challenging the collegiate rite of passage: a campus-wide social marketing media campaign to reduce binge drinking. Journal of Drug Education, 31 (2), 207-220.

Haines, M.P., Barker, G. & Rice, R. (2003). Using social norms to reduce alcohol and tobacco use in two midwestern high schools. In H.W. Perkins (Ed.) The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.235-244). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Haines, M.P. & Spear, S. F. (1996). Changing the perception of the norm: A strategy to decrease binge drinking among college students. Journal of American College Health, 45, 134-140.

Hancock, L. & Henry, N. (2003). Perceptions, norms and tobacco use in college residence hall freshmen: Evaluation of a social norms marketing intervention. In H.W. Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.247-258). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hansen, W. B. & Graham J. W. (1991).Preventing alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use among adolescents: Peer pressure resistance training versus establishing conservative norms. Preventive Medicine, 20, 414-430..

Jeffrey, L., P. Negro, D. Miller & J. Frisone, J. (2003). The Rowan University social norms project. In H.W.Perkins (Ed.) The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.100-110). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johannessen, K. & Glider, P. (2003).The University of Arizona's campus health social norms media campaign. In H.W.Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.65-82). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johannessen, K., Collins, C., Mills-Novoa, B., & Glider, P. (1999). A practical guide to alcohol abuse prevention: A campus case study in implementing social norms and environmental management approaches. Tucson, AZ: Campus Health Service, The University of Arizona.

Larimer, M.E. and Neighbors, C. (2003). Normative misperceptions and the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms on college student gambling. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 17 (3), 225-243.

Linkenbach, J. W. & Perkins, H.W. (2003). Misperceptions of peer alcohol norms in a statewide survey of young adults. In H.W.Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.182-205). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Linkenbach, J.W. and Perkins, H.W. (2003). MOST of Us are tobacco free: an eight-month social norms campaign reducing youth initiation of smoking in Montana. In H.W.Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.247-258). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mattern, J. & Neighbors, C. (2004). Social norms campaigns: examining the relationship between changes in perceived norms and changes in drink levels. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 65 (4), 489-493.

Perkins, H. W. (2003). The emergence and evolution of the social norms approach to substance abuse prevention. In H.W. Perkins (Ed.) The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.3-18). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Perkins, H.W. (1985). Religious traditions, parents, and peers as determinants of alcohol and drug use among college students. Review of Religious Research 27 (1), 15-31.

Perkins, H. W. & Berkowitz, A. D. (1986). Perceiving the community norms of alcohol use among students: Some research implications for campus alcohol education programming. International Journal of the Addictions, 21, 961-976.

Perkins, H. W. & Craig, D. (2003). The HWS experiment: A synergistic social norms approach using print, electronic media and curriculum infusion to reduce collegiate problem drinking. In H.W. Perkins (Ed.) The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians (pp.35-64). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Perkins, H. W. & Craig, D. (2002). A multifaceted social norms approach to reduce high-risk drinking. Newton, MA: The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, Education Development Center, Inc.

Perkins, H. W., Haines, M. P., & Rice, R. (2005). Misperceiving the college drinking norm and related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived norms and student alcohol misuse. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66 (4), 470-478.

Perkins, H. W., Meilman, P.W., Leichliter, J.S., Cashin, J.R., & Presley, C.A. (1999). Misperceptions of the norms for the frequency of alcohol and other drug use on college campuses. Journal of American College Health, 47 (6), 253-258, 1999.

Pollard, J. W., Freeman, J.E., Ziegler, D.A., Hersman, M.N. & Goss, C.W. (2000). Predictions of normative drug use by college students: False consensus, false uniqueness, or just plain accuracy? Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 14 (3), 5-12.

Thombs, D.L., Wolcott, B.J., & Farkash, L.G. (1997). Social context, perceived norms and drinking behavior in young people. Journal of Substance Abuse, 9, 257-267.

University of Michigan. University of Michigan Survey Regarding Alcohol and Other Drugs. UM Initiative on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Ann Arbor, MI, 1993.

Wolfson, S. (2000). Students' estimates of the prevalence of drug use: Evidence for a false consensus effect. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 14 (3), 295-298.