Changing perceptions of peer norms as a drinking reduction program for college students

Several hundred students at a state university were arranged in four treatment or intervention groups. The treatment group of chief interest received a ''norm-setting'' intervention program intended to reduce subjects' perceptions of the norms or expectations of various reference groups (including peers and parents) about appropriate levels of drinking. Questionnaires administered at three points across time indicated that the norm-setting intervention was indeed associated with the greatest reductions in the drinking norms attributed to the general student body, close friends, living groups, and parents. After Sour months, such reduced norm estimates were associated with concomitant reductions in actual (reported) drinking behavior, but such reductions in drinking occurred irrespective of treatment group. While this outcome failed to vindicate any specific intervention program, it was consistent with the self-discrepancy theory on which the norm-setting intervention was based.