Amount and consistency, two components of group norms: An actor partner interdependence analysis of intimate behaviors in groups.

Abstract

This study presents a new conceptualization of behavioral norms as consisting of two components: the average amount of a target behavior exhibited in a group and the consistency of this behavior across group members. Using this conceptualization, we examined the relationship between group behavioral norms regarding intimate behaviors and individual group members’ intimate behaviors in two types of groups: interpersonal growth groups and trauma recovery groups. Specifically, we used the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM; Kenny, Kashy, Manetti, Piero, & Livi, 2002) to examine the relationships between an individual group member’s amount of intimate behaviors (i.e., the actor effect), the amount (i.e., group mean) and consistency (i.e., SD) of intimate behaviors of the other group members in both the previous and current sessions (i.e., the partner effects), the interaction of the amount and consistency of the group’s previous and current intimate behaviors, and the amount of intimate behaviors exhibited by the individual group member in the current session. A hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that an individual group member’s previous amount of intimate behaviors was positively related to her or his amount of intimate behaviors in the current session. Also, there was a significant interaction for the two components of the partner effect in the current session (i.e., group amount and consistency of intimate behaviors in the current session) such that when the consistency of intimate behaviors of the other group members was low, there was a significant, negative relationship between group amount of intimate behaviors and the individuals group member’s intimate behaviors in a session. When consistency was high, however, this relationship was not significant.