More than 40% of high school seniors are estimated to transition to a four-year college immediately following graduation. Along with this transition comes an increase in alcohol consumption. Studies have suggested that during this transition period and throughout college, students’ decisions around alcohol use are influenced by peers’ alcohol use norms. College students who show greater overestimations between peers’ actual and perceived alcohol use usually report heavier personal drinking. This study examined changes in proximal descriptive alcohol use norms from high school to college, social integration as a predictor of stable versus shifting peer norms, and the consequences of norm profile membership for developmental outcomes.
This study used data from the Monitoring the Future study, which is a long-term study of the epidemiology and etiology of substance use among youth and young adults in the United States. Three main research questions were assessed throughout this study. Question one examined the extent to which students’ perceived norms around friends’ drinking behaviors shifted from high school to college. Question two examined how social integration in high school impacted stability versus a shift in peer group selection. Question three documented the consequences of stable versus shifting descriptive alcohol use norms for students’ alcohol use, binge drinking, and academic performance following the transition to college.
The results of this study showed much stability in proximal descriptive alcohol use norms from high school to college. Two-thirds of participants estimated that a moderately high percentage of their friends drank alcohol at least once a week. Young adults more often sought college friends that mirrored their high school friends in terms of perceived alcohol use. Overall, the results of this study highlight the benefits of affiliating with peer groups where alcohol use is perceived as less common and suggest social integration may be a marker for more risky peer affiliation.
Takeaway: This study highlights the benefits of affiliating with peer groups where alcohol use is perceived as less common and social integration may be a marker for riskier peer affiliation.