The relationships between parental and peer norms and moderate drinking among first-year college students: similarities and differences in typical and celebration drinking

ABSTRACT

The study explored how perceived parental and peer norms toward moderate drinking can be related to first-year college students’ drinking behavior across two occasions: typical days and celebrations. First-year college students were recruited to participate in an online survey (n = 127). For typical drinking, perceived peer descriptive norms during celebration showed a statistically significant relationship. Both perceived peer descriptive and injunctive norms were statistically associated with typical and celebratory drinking by first-year students. Unlike the predictions, perceived parental norms regarding moderate drinking were not associated with alcohol consumption across two occasions. The results emphasize the subtle impact of various social contexts and reference groups on the drinking habits of the first years.

KEYWORDS:

• Social norms
• parental norms
• peer norms
• celebration drinking
• underage drinking
• event-specific drinking
• first-year college students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The observed power of the model reported was .99.

2. The number of standard drinks in different alcoholic beverages was provided for participants to estimate their alcohol consumption.

3. Standardized beta.

4. 0 = male, 1 = female.

5. 0 = non-White participant, 1 = White participant.

6. Alcohol consumptions on a typical day and during celebrations were averaged.

7. r = .88; t (126) = −7.40, p < .01

8. Unstandardized beta.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sunyoung Park

Sunyoung Park (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor at California State University Long Beach. Her research largely focuses on the mechanisms of effects of social norms in the context of health communication.