Premium
Adolescents' alcohol use related to perceived norms
Author(s) -
AAS HENRIK,
KLEPP KNUTINGE
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1992.tb00920.x
Subject(s) - norwegian , psychology , alcohol , context (archaeology) , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , injury prevention , social norms approach , poison control , social psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , environmental health , perception , paleontology , philosophy , biochemistry , linguistics , chemistry , neuroscience , biology
A questionnaire survey was carried out among 898 Norwegian adolescents age twelve to twenty. The study focused on the relation between adolescents' alcohol use on one side and estimated drinking norms (peers' drinking) together with attributed opinion norms (parents' and friends' acceptance of adolescents' alcohol use) on the other. On average, 5% of students in 7 th , 8 lh and 9 , h grade reported weekly alcohol use. They overestimated the number of fellow students using alcohol every week seven‐fold. Students' estimates were significantly related to self‐reported alcohol use. Even in high‐school (10 th , ll th and 12 th grade) where 29% reported weekly alcohol use, students overestimated number of weekly drinkers among friends and fellow students by two‐fold. Contrary to the results from a previous study conducted in Norway, in this study opinions attributed to both friends and parents about adolescents' alcohol use were significantly related to the students' own alcohol use. Estimated behavior norms and attributed opinion norms explained 46% of the observed variance in students' self‐reported frequency of drinking. In a health promotion context, these results point to the importance of correcting student misconceptions about how often friends and fellow students drink alcohol.