TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Perceived peer norms and alcohol use among college students in China
JO  - Addictive behaviors
A1  - Sun, Li
A1  - Windle, Michael
A1  - Thompson, Nancy J.
SP  - 144
EP  - 150
VL  - 87
IS  - 
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Currently, there has been little research on peer drinking norms with non-English speaking college populations. Using a Chinese college student sample, the present study investigated perceived peer norms and their associations with individual alcohol-related behaviors. <br><br>METHODS: Past six-month drinkers (n = 436, 50% men, mean age = 20.49) recruited from one college in China took an anonymous paper-and-pencil survey. To examine the differences in alcohol-related behaviors among groups, one-way repeated measures analysis of variance and chi-square tests were conducted. To investigate the associations between perceived peer norms and individual alcohol-related behaviors, sequential linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted. <br><br>RESULTS: There were overall mean differences in alcohol use among participants, perceived best friends, and perceived average student for both men (F (1.98, 421.06) = 13.12, p < .001) and women (F (1.89, 399.70) = 5.79, p < .01). The proportion of best friends perceived as having had heavy episodic drinking was higher than that of participants who had had heavy episodic drinking (χ<sup>2</sup> (1, N = 415) = 61.85, p < .001). So was the proportion of the average student perceived as having had heavy episodic drinking (χ<sup>2</sup> (1, N = 414) = 68.17, p < .001). After controlling for demographic variables, perceived peer alcohol use explained 17% of the variance in individual alcohol use; perceived peer heavy episodic drinking contributed to 2.6 to 3.6 times higher odds of participants' reporting heavy episodic drinking. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Replication research is needed to inform social norms interventions for Chinese college students.<br><br>Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0306-4603
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.07.009
ID  - ref1
ER  -