The Effect of Descriptive Norms on Pregaming Frequency: Tests of Five Moderators

ABSTRACT

Background: Pregaming is highly prevalent on college campuses and associated with heightened levels of intoxication and risk of alcohol consequences. However, research examining the correlates of pregaming behavior is limited. Descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions about the prevalence or frequency of a behavior) are reliable and comparatively strong predictors of general drinking behavior, with recent evidence indicating that they are also associated with pregaming. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that higher descriptive norms for pregaming frequency would be associated with personal pregaming frequency. We also tested whether this effect would be stronger in the context of several theory-based moderators: female gender, higher injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of others' attitudes toward a particular behavior), a more positive attitude toward pregaming, a stronger sense of identification with the drinking habits of other students, and stronger social comparison tendencies. Methods: College student drinkers (N = 198, 63% female) participated in an online survey assessing frequency of pregaming, descriptive norms, and hypothesized moderators. Results: A multiple regression model revealed that higher descriptive norms, a more positive attitude toward pregaming, and stronger peer identification were significantly associated with greater pregaming frequency among drinkers. However, no moderators of the association between descriptive norms and pregaming frequency were observed. Conclusions/Importance: Descriptive norms are robust predictors of pregaming behavior, for both genders and across levels of several potential moderators. Future research seeking to understand pregaming behavior should consider descriptive norms, as well as personal attitudes and identification with student peers, as targets of interventions designed to reduce pregaming.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregaming
• prepartying
• descriptive norms
• alcohol
• college students
• social comparison
• attitudes
• injunctive norms
• gender

Notes

1 The strength and magnitude of final model results did not differ in the larger sample that also included nondrinkers.

2 We caution the reader in the interpretation of the negative effect of injunctive norms on pregaming frequency, as this may be a statistical artifact. According to Maassen & Bakker (2001), either one or a linear composite of independent variables can produce a suppressor effect. To meet the definition for negative suppression, the two (or more) independent variables first must have a positive zero-order correlation with the dependent variable and correlate positively with each other. As can be seen in Table 1, injunctive norms are positively (though non-significantly) associated with the dependent variable (pregaming frequency), and most strongly positively associated with descriptive norms. Second, negative suppression is shown when one of the independent variables receives a negative regression weight, as is the case for the association between injunctive norms and pregaming frequency. This may be a reflection of the fact that although descriptive and injunctive norms each share relevant information with pregaming frequency, they share fewer common elements with pregaming frequency than the common elements of irrelevant information shared between injunctive and descriptive norms. To test this assumption, we ran a separate model including only injunctive norms and descriptive norm as predictors. Here, the effect of injunctive norms was again negative and significant (B = −.37, p =.03). A similar finding is observed if descriptive norms are replaced with personal attitudes, which was also correlated with injunctive norms (i.e., only personal attitudes and injunctive norms as predictors of pregaming); in this model, injunctive norms are again negative and significant (B = −.32, p =.02). Findings suggest that either personal attitudes or descriptive norms may suppress effects of injunctive norms on pregaming frequency. The variance shared between injunctive norms and either of these other two predictors may account for the false appearance of a negative relationship between injunctive norms and pregaming frequency.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer E. Merrill

Jennifer E. Merrill is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. She is broadly interested in the etiology and treatment of alcohol misuse among young adults, with a current focus on how college students subjectively evaluate the consequences of their drinking.

Shannon R. Kenney

Shannon R. Kenney is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University where she is researching the etiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol problems in adolescents and young adults. Dr. Kenney develops and evaluates early interventions aimed at promoting mental health and reducing other harmful behaviors that co-occur with substance misuse, including sexual risk-taking and sleep problems.

Kate B. Carey

Kate B. Carey is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health. Her research interests include the social, psychological, and environmental causes and consequences of risky drinking, and the factors contributing to alcohol-related risk reduction. She designs and evaluates brief interventions for at-risk drinking, and has tailored brief interventions for various populations, including young adults attending college, psychiatric outpatients, and heavy drinkers in the community.