Previous drinking norms literature has found college students tend to overestimate their peers’ consumption and approval, relative to their own consumption and approval, which may influence students’ drinking behaviors. These discrepancies are called self-other differences (SODs). A recent study examined SODs for college students’ ratings of the approval of intoxicated behaviors and whether gender and race/ethnicity moderated these differences. Participants were a convenience sample of 233 U.S. college students; this sample was mostly female and mostly White. Participants were presented with a list of 44 intoxicated behaviors (i.e., slurring speech, walking with difficulty) and rated how acceptable each behavior was to them personally using a Likert scale. These ratings were then used to measure injunctive norms: Participants were asked to rate how acceptable a “typical student at the university” thought each behavior was. Participants also reported their demographic characteristics (age, sex, year in school, race/ethnicity, etc.) and drinking behaviors (average number of drinks consumed per week and number of binge-drinking occasions in the past month). Results found 84% (n = 195) of the sample reported past-month drinking, 83% of whom (n = 161) reported binge drinking, and the average number of drinks consumed per week was 9.86 (SD = 8.57). The authors performed paired t-tests to compare the means from personal approval ratings and perceived others’ ratings for each behavior. All but two of the means were significantly different. The average personal approval rating (closest to slightly unacceptable) and the average perceived others’ approval score (closest to slightly acceptable) were significantly different (p < 0.0001). All SOD scores were positive, meaning students rated others as more approving of intoxicated behaviors than they rated themselves. After controlling for weekly alcohol consumption, women rated intoxicated behaviors to be less personally acceptable than men (p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences with respect to perceived others’ approval. Because only 30% of the sample identified as a racial or ethnic minority, all of these participants were combined into one group for analysis. Minority respondents reported significantly less accepting attitudes toward intoxicated behaviors and significantly higher perceived peer approval of these behaviors compared to White respondents, controlling for consumption.
Take away: In this convenience sample, students rated their peers’ perceived approval as significantly higher than their personal approval for 42 of 44 intoxicated behaviors. On average, women rated behaviors as less personally acceptable than men and students of color rated behaviors as less personally acceptable and more acceptable to their peers.