Examining the relationship between social norms, alcohol-induced blackouts, and intentions to blackout among college students.

Abstract

Alcohol-induced blackouts are a common high-risk outcome of heavy episodic drinking and are considered a marker of problematic alcohol consumption. One's estimates of the prevalence and peer approval of heavy episodic drinking (i.e., social norm perception, descriptive and injunctive norms, respectively) strongly relate to high-risk alcohol consumption. However, it is unknown whether the intention to blackout and the occurrence of alcohol-induced blackouts also associates with these estimates. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between participants' social norm perception and alcohol-induced blackout intentions and recent blackout history. A total of 4430 participants completed an online survey with an average age of 19.97 (SD=1.70) years. A series of ANOVAs and a structural equation model examined the relation between social norm perception, intention to blackout, and recent blackout history. In the structural equation model, the social norm variables (descriptive and injunctive norms) were associated with higher levels of blackout intentions and recent blackout history. The global fit indices suggest that the data fit the model, χ2 (n=4248, 442)=7755.90, p<.001, CFI=.96, TLI=.96, RMSEA=.06 (CI90 .061-.064). Participants with a higher likelihood of having a past 30-day history of alcohol-induced blackouts and higher blackout intentions believed that many of their peer groups approved of certain alcohol-related behaviors and that their peer groups drink frequently and drink higher quantities. Future interventions may assess the impact of adjusting social norms on both the intention to blackout and experiencing blackouts.