Citation

Haines M, Spear SF. J. Am. Coll. Health 1996; 45(3): 134-140.

Affiliation

Health Enhancement Services, University Health Service, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8952206

Abstract

A reduction in college students' binge drinking associated with an intervention to change perceptions of drinking norms is described. The 5-year study was conducted at a public residential campus of 23,000 students. A traditional intervention proved unsuccessful, but a media campaign designed to change student perceptions of the amount of binge drinking showed an 18.5% drop in the number of students who perceived binge drinking as the norm (from 69.7% to 51.2%) and a corresponding reduction in self-reported binge drinking of 8.8% (from 43.0% to 34.2%). The apparent effectiveness of this prevention effort suggested that changing college students' perceptions of drinking norms may lower the proportion of students who engage in binge drinking.

Language: en