Examining Theoretical Predictors of (Mis)perceived Alcohol Norms

Abstract

This study examined the association between perceived alcohol norms (descriptive and injunctive) and theoretical predictors of normative (mis)perceptions. Based on models of social norms, we explored whether recall and ease of imagining of other students' drinking, exposure to media and peer conversations normalizing alcohol use, and a tendency to make internal, stable, and global attributions predicted perceived alcohol norms for distal and proximal targets. The sample comprised 194 college students (51.5% female) ages 18-22 years (M = 19.3 years, SD = 1.09). Participants reported on personal alcohol use attitudes and behaviors, perceived injunctive and descriptive norms, and theoretical predictors of perceived norms. After controlling for personal attitudes, we found that attribution style and belief that the media normalizes alcohol use predicted typical-student injunctive norms. In contrast, after we controlled for personal alcohol use, we found that theoretical predictors do not help explain variation in perceived descriptive norms. Models aiming to explain the tendency to overestimate perceived norms may be most promising for understanding injunctive, as compared with descriptive, norms.