Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students
Introduction: Heavy alcohol consumption constitutes a major health risk among University students. Social relationships with peers strongly affect University students' perception of the drinking behavior of others, which in turn plays a crucial role in determining their own alcohol intake. Univ...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.653435/full |
| _version_ | 1818439778793684992 |
|---|---|
| author | Christine Wolter Tino Lesener Tobias Alexander Thomas Tobias Alexander Thomas Alicia-Carolin Hentschel Burkhard Gusy |
| author_facet | Christine Wolter Tino Lesener Tobias Alexander Thomas Tobias Alexander Thomas Alicia-Carolin Hentschel Burkhard Gusy |
| author_sort | Christine Wolter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Heavy alcohol consumption constitutes a major health risk among University students. Social relationships with peers strongly affect University students' perception of the drinking behavior of others, which in turn plays a crucial role in determining their own alcohol intake. University students tend to overestimate their peers' alcohol consumption – a belief that is associated with an increase in an individual's own consumption. Therefore, we implemented a social norms intervention with personalized normative feedback at a major University in Germany to reduce and prevent excessive drinking among University students.Methods: Our intervention was part of a regular health monitoring survey. We invited all enrolled University students to take part in this survey on two occasions. A total of 862 University students completed the questionnaire, 563 (65.3%) of which received e-mail-based feedback upon request concerning their peers' and their own alcohol consumption. For the intervention group (n = 190) as well as the control group (no feedback requested; n = 101), we included only University students in the evaluation who overestimated their peers' alcohol use and indicated above average consumption of the peers. We applied analyses of variance to assess intervention effects with regard to the correction of overestimated group norms as well as University students' drinking behavior.Results: Within the intervention group, we observed a significantly larger reduction of the previously overestimated behavioral norms compared to the control group (p < 0.001; ηp2 = 0.06). With regard to behavioral outcomes the intervention group showed a significantly larger reduction in the AUDIT-C score (p = 0.020; ηp2 = 0.03).Discussion: Our study confirms previous research whereupon personalized, gender-specific and selective normative feedback is effective for alcohol prevention among University students. However, University students still overestimated their peers' alcohol intake after the intervention. Furthermore, we did not reach high-risk groups (University students with the highest alcohol intake) since no feedback was requested. Future studies should address factors influencing the impact of the intervention and reachability of selective groups. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T18:01:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5df3f17e17c244579d13c885c9522873 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T18:01:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-5df3f17e17c244579d13c885c95228732022-12-21T22:52:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652021-06-01910.3389/fpubh.2021.653435653435Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University StudentsChristine Wolter0Tino Lesener1Tobias Alexander Thomas2Tobias Alexander Thomas3Alicia-Carolin Hentschel4Burkhard Gusy5Division of Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDivision of Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyInstitute for Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, GermanyDivision of Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDivision of Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyIntroduction: Heavy alcohol consumption constitutes a major health risk among University students. Social relationships with peers strongly affect University students' perception of the drinking behavior of others, which in turn plays a crucial role in determining their own alcohol intake. University students tend to overestimate their peers' alcohol consumption – a belief that is associated with an increase in an individual's own consumption. Therefore, we implemented a social norms intervention with personalized normative feedback at a major University in Germany to reduce and prevent excessive drinking among University students.Methods: Our intervention was part of a regular health monitoring survey. We invited all enrolled University students to take part in this survey on two occasions. A total of 862 University students completed the questionnaire, 563 (65.3%) of which received e-mail-based feedback upon request concerning their peers' and their own alcohol consumption. For the intervention group (n = 190) as well as the control group (no feedback requested; n = 101), we included only University students in the evaluation who overestimated their peers' alcohol use and indicated above average consumption of the peers. We applied analyses of variance to assess intervention effects with regard to the correction of overestimated group norms as well as University students' drinking behavior.Results: Within the intervention group, we observed a significantly larger reduction of the previously overestimated behavioral norms compared to the control group (p < 0.001; ηp2 = 0.06). With regard to behavioral outcomes the intervention group showed a significantly larger reduction in the AUDIT-C score (p = 0.020; ηp2 = 0.03).Discussion: Our study confirms previous research whereupon personalized, gender-specific and selective normative feedback is effective for alcohol prevention among University students. However, University students still overestimated their peers' alcohol intake after the intervention. Furthermore, we did not reach high-risk groups (University students with the highest alcohol intake) since no feedback was requested. Future studies should address factors influencing the impact of the intervention and reachability of selective groups.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.653435/fullsocial norms interventionprevention of alcohol misuseUniversity studentsalcohol interventionheavy drinking |
| spellingShingle | Christine Wolter Tino Lesener Tobias Alexander Thomas Tobias Alexander Thomas Alicia-Carolin Hentschel Burkhard Gusy Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students Frontiers in Public Health social norms intervention prevention of alcohol misuse University students alcohol intervention heavy drinking |
| title | Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students |
| title_full | Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students |
| title_fullStr | Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students |
| title_short | Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students |
| title_sort | finding the right balance a social norms intervention to reduce heavy drinking in university students |
| topic | social norms intervention prevention of alcohol misuse University students alcohol intervention heavy drinking |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.653435/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christinewolter findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents AT tinolesener findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents AT tobiasalexanderthomas findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents AT tobiasalexanderthomas findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents AT aliciacarolinhentschel findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents AT burkhardgusy findingtherightbalanceasocialnormsinterventiontoreduceheavydrinkinginuniversitystudents |