Needs and Norms: Testing the Effects of Negative Interpersonal Interactions, the Need to Belong, and Perceived Norms on Alcohol Consumption

Abstract

The current study examined whether individual differences in the need to belong and perceived drinking norms (both injunctive and descriptive) moderate the effects of daily negative interpersonal interactions on college students' evening alcohol consumption. A total of 212 (123 female) college students completed a background survey measuring their need to belong and perceptions of injunctive and descriptive drinking norms. They then completed a 30-day daily-diary study in which they reported on their daily interpersonal experiences and alcohol consumption. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that, among students higher in the need to belong, daily negative interpersonal interactions during the day were associated with drinking behavior that evening that was more in line with perceived injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of how much peers approve of drinking) when perceived descriptive norms were controlled for. This was not found for students lower in the need to belong. In contrast, descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of how much peers drink) did not moderate the effects of daily negative interpersonal interactions on evening alcohol consumption when injunctive norms were controlled for. We suggest that unmet belongingness needs motivate students to regulate drinking behavior to be in accordance with what they perceive as most approved of by their peers. That is, students may not drink solely to reduce negative affect but to fit in and gain approval.