Despite a long tradition of effectiveness in laboratory tests, normative messages have had mixed success in changing behavior in field contexts, with some studies showing boomerang effects. To test a theoretical account of this inconsistency, we conducted a field exper- iment in which normative messages were used to promote householdenergyconservation.Aspredicted,adescriptive normative message detailing average neighborhood usage produced either desirable energy savings or the undesir- able boomerang effect, depending on whether households were already consuming at a low or high rate. Also as predicted, adding an injunctive message (conveying social approval or disapproval) eliminated the boomerang effect. The results offer an explanation for the mixed success of persuasive appeals based on social norms and suggest how such appeals should be properly crafted.

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The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms

Background: The Internet is increasingly used as a medium for the delivery of interventions designed to promote health behavior change. However, reviews of these interventions to date have not systematically identified intervention characteristics and linked these to effectiveness. Objectives: The present review sought to capitalize on recently published coding frames for assessing use of theory and behavior change techniques to investigate which characteristics of Internet-based interventions best promote health behavior change. In addition, we wanted to develop a novel coding scheme for assessing mode of delivery in Internet-based interventions and also to link different modes to effect sizes. Methods: We conducted a computerized search of the databases indexed by ISI Web of Knowledge (including BIOSIS Previews and Medline) between 2000 and 2008. Studies were included if (1) the primary components of the intervention were delivered via the Internet, (2) participants were randomly assigned to conditions, and (3) a measure of behavior related to health was taken after the intervention. Results: We found 85 studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria, providing a total sample size of 43,236 participants. On average, interventions had a statistically small but significant effect on health-related behavior (d+ = 0.16, 95% CI 0.09-0.23). More extensive use of theory was associated with increases in effect size (P = .049), and, in particular, interventions based on the theory of planned behavior tended to have substantial effects on behavior (d+ = 0.36, 95% CI 0.15-0.56). Interventions that incorporated more behavior change techniques also tended to have larger effects compared to interventions that incorporated fewer techniques (P < .001). Finally, the effectiveness of Internet-based interventions was enhanced by the use of additional methods of communicating with participants, especially the use of short message service (SMS), or text, messages. Conclusions: The review provides a framework for the development of a science of Internet-based interventions, and our findings provide a rationale for investing in more intensive theory-based interventions that incorporate multiple behavior change techniques and modes of delivery. [J Med Internet Res 2010;12(1):e4]

Using the Internet to promote health behavior change: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of theoretical basis, use of behavior change techniques, and mode of delivery on efficacy

Definition: To what extent does the study allow us to draw conclusions about a causal effect between two or more constructs? Issues: Selection, maturation, history, mortality, testing, regression towrd the mean, selection by maturation, treatment by mortality, treatment by testing, measured treatment variables Increase: Eliminate the threats, above all do experimental manipulations, random assignment, and counterbalancing.

Reliability and validity

Objective. —To examine the extent of binge drinking by college students and the ensuing health and behavioral problems that binge drinkers create for themselves and others on their campus. Design. —Self-administered survey mailed to a national representative sample of US 4-year college students. Setting. —One hundred forty US 4-year colleges in 1993. Participants. —A total of 17592 college students. Main Outcome Measures. —Self-reports of drinking behavior, alcohol-related health problems, and other problems. Results. —Almost half (44%) of college students responding to the survey were binge drinkers, including almost one fifth (19%) of the students who were frequent binge drinkers. Frequent binge drinkers are more likely to experience serious health and other consequences of their drinking behavior than other students. Almost half (47%) of the frequent binge drinkers experienced five or more different drinking-related problems, including injuries and engaging in unplanned sex, since the beginning of the school year. Most binge drinkers do not consider themselves to be problem drinkers and have not sought treatment for an alcohol problem. Binge drinkers create problems for classmates who are not binge drinkers. Students who are not binge drinkers at schools with higher binge rates were more likely than students at schools with lower binge rates to experience problems such as being pushed, hit, or assaulted or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance. Conclusions. —Binge drinking is widespread on college campuses. Programs aimed at reducing this problem should focus on frequent binge drinkers, refer them to treatment or educational programs, and emphasize the harm they cause for students who are not binge drinkers. (JAMA. 1994;272:1672-1677)

Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge Drinking in College: A National Survey of Students at 140 Campuses

This article reviews more than 200 scholarly articles and books on household labor published between 1989 and 1999. As a maturing area of study, this body of research has been concerned with understanding and documenting how housework is embedded in complex and shifting social processes relating to the well-being of families, the construction of gender, and the reproduction of society. Major theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the study of household labor are summarized, and suggestions for further research are offered. In summary, women have reduced and men have increased slightly their hourly contributions to housework. Although men's relative contributions have increased, women still do at least twice as much routine housework as men. Consistent predictors of sharing include both women's and men's employment, earnings, gender ideology, and life-course issues. More balanced divisions of housework are associated with women perceiving fairness, experiencing less depression, and enjoying higher marital satisfaction.

Research on household labor : Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work

Data drawn from a comprehensive survey of alcohol use in a college student community (N= 1, 116) show most students holding a moderate personal attitude regarding alcohol use while misperceiving their peer environment as being much more liberal. Drinking behavior is significantly related to gender, type of living unit, personal attitudes toward drinking, and also the degree of consistency/discrepancy between the individual's own attitude and his or her perception of the campus norm regarding drinking. Students who saw the campus norm to be similar to their own attitude were found to drink more heavily, and in more public settings, than students with discrepant attitudes and perceptions. Implications of findings for alcohol abuse prevention programs on college campuses are discussed.

Perceiving the Community Norms of Alcohol Use among Students: Some Research Implications for Campus Alcohol Education Programming*

This article provides a review and synthesis of professional research literature on the types, extent and patterns of negative consequences produced by students' misuse of alcohol in college populations based on survey research conducted during the last two decades. Considerable evidence is available documenting a wide range of damage by some students' drinking done to themselves as well as to other individuals, although some types of consequences remain speculative. Damage and costs to institutions are likely to be substantial, but this claim remains largely an inference based on current studies. Drinking by males compared with that of females produces more consequences for self and others that involve public deviance, whereas females' drinking contributes equally with males to consequences that are personal and relatively private. Research on racial/ethnic background, time trends and developmental stages reveals patterns in student data on consequences of drinking, but these data are very limited in the literature. Evidence suggests there is only a modest correlation between students' self-perception of having a drinking problem and the many negative consequences of drinking that are reported.

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Surveying the damage: a review of research on consequences of alcohol misuse in college populations.

Objective: This article provides a review of conceptual and empirical studies on the role of social norms in college student al- cohol use and in prevention strategies to counter misuse. The norma- tive influences of various constituencies serving as reference groups for students are examined as possible factors influencing students' drink- ing behavior. Method: A review of English language studies was con- ducted. Results: Parental norms have only modest impact on students once they enter college beyond the residual effects of previously instilled drinking attitudes and religious traditions. Faculty could theoretically provide a positive influence on student drinking behavior, but there is little evidence in the literature that faculty norms and expectations about avoiding alcohol misuse are effectively communicated to students. Al- though the norms of resident advisers (RAs) should ideally provide a restraint on student alcohol misuse, the positive influence of RAs is lim- ited by their negotiated compromises with students whom they oversee and by their misperceptions of student norms. Research reveals student peer norms to be the strongest influence on students' personal drinking behavior, with the more socially integrated students typically drinking most heavily. The widespread prevalence among students of dramatic misperceptions of peer norms regarding drinking attitudes and behav- iors is also a consistent finding. Permissiveness and problem behaviors among peers are overestimated, even in environments where problem drinking rates are relatively high in actuality. These misperceived norms, in turn, have a significant negative effect promoting and exacerbating problem drinking. Conclusions: Interventions to reduce these misper- ceptions have revealed a substantial positive effect in several pilot studies and campus experiments. (J. Stud. Alcohol, Supplement No. 14: 164- 172, 2002)

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Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts.

Tables and Figures.Preface.PART ONE: INTRODUCTION.1. The Emergence and Evolution of the Social Norms Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention (H. Wesley Perkins).PART TWO: CASE STUDIES OF COLLEGE EXPERIMENTS TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE.2. The Northern Illinois University Experiment: A Longitudinal Case Study of the Social Norms Approach (Michael P. Haines, Gregory P. Barker).3. The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Experiment: A Synergistic Social Norms Approach Using Print, Electronic Media, and Curriculum Infusion to Reduce Collegiate Problem Drinking (H. Wesley Perkins, David W. Craig).4. The University of Arizona's Campus Health Social Norms Media Campaign (Koreen Johannessen, Peggy Glider).5. Applying the Social Norms Model to Universal and Indicated Alcohol Interventions at Western Washington University (Patricia M. Fabiano).6. The Rowan University Social Norms Project (Linda R. Jeffrey, Pamela Negro, DeMond S. Miller, John D. Frisone).7. The Small Groups Norms-Challenging Model: Social Norms Interventions with Targeted High-Risk Groups (Je anne M. Far, John A. Miller).PART THREE: EXPANDING SOCIAL NORMS INTERVENTIONS TO OTHER COLLEGE STUDENT APPLICATIONS.8. Perceptions, Norms, and Tobacco Use of College Residence Hall Freshmen: Evaluation of a Social Norms Marketing Intervention (Linda C. Hancock, Neil W. Henry).9. A Social Norms Approach to Building Campus Support for Policy Change (William DeJong).PART FOUR: YOUNG ADULTS AND SOCIAL NORMS WORK BEYOND THE CAMPUS.10. Misperceptions of Peer Alcohol Norms in a Statewide Survey of Young Adults (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins).11. The Montana Model: Development and Overview of a Seven-Step Process for Implementing Macro-Level Social Norms Campaigns (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach).PART FIVE: THE SOCIAL NORMS APPROACH IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL POPULATIONS.12. The Imaginary Lives of Peers: Patterns of Substance Use and Misperceptions of Norms Among Secondary School Students (H. Wesley Perkins, David W. Craig).13. MOST of Us Are Tobacco Free: An Eight-Month Social Norms Campaign Reducing Youth Initiation of Smoking in Montana (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins).14. Using Social Norms to Reduce Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Two Midwestern High Schools (Michael P. Haines, Gregory P. Barker, Richard Rice).PART SIX: FURTHER APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE SOCIAL NORMS MODEL IN PROMOTING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.15. Parents' Perceptions of Parenting Norms: Using the Social Norms Approach to Reinforce Effective Parenting (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins, William DeJong).16. Applications of Social Norms Theory to Other Health and Social Justice Issues (Alan David Berkowitz).17. The Promise and Challenge of Future Work Using the Social Norms Model (H. Wesley Perkins).About the Editor.About the Contributors.Index.

The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians.

Data from surveys of students representing 100 diverse college campuses were used to investigate the difference between the self-reported frequency of a drug's use and students' perceptions of the frequency of use Students were asked about the frequency of their own use of 11 drugs (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, sedatives, hallucinogens, opiates, inhalants, designer drugs, and steroids) and how often they thought "the average student" on their campus used these drugs Respondents typically misperceived their peer norms (designated as the median of self-reported use) by substantially overestimating how often the average student used each drug, both in campus samples where abstinence or infrequent use were the median of self-reports and in samples where the median of self-reports revealed more frequent use To the extent that they may promote or reinforce students' actual use, these misperceptions should be considered in designing college drug prevention programs

H. Wesley Perkins

Papers

Perceiving the Community Norms of Alcohol Use among Students: Some Research Implications for Campus Alcohol Education Programming*

Surveying the damage: a review of research on consequences of alcohol misuse in college populations.

Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts.

The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians.

Misperceptions of the norms for the frequency of alcohol and other drug use on college campuses.