How attitudes about drinking and perceptions of drinking norms are related to drinking behavior in college students.

Abstract

Using an adaptation of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (1967), this study examined the relationship between personal attitudes about drinking, perceived attitudes of others towards drinking, perceived drinking behavior of others, and personal drinking behavior among college undergraduates. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted on data gathered from a survey of drinking behavior in a university community (n = 926). Results indicated that, while controlling for gender, year in school, GPA, importance of religion, and Greek affiliation, personal attitude about drinking was the strongest predictor of drinking, followed by perception of friends' drinking behavior. Four variables were used to measure perception of the drinking norm: perception of friends' drinking attitudes, perception of other students' drinking attitudes, perception of friends' drinking behavior, and perception of other students' drinking behavior. Among these, perception of friends' drinking behavior was found to be the strongest predictor of personal drinking revealing that, in the domain of college drinking, perceived behavior of others is a stronger predictor of personal behavior than perceived attitudes of others. Consistent with other studies, perception of friends' drinking (a proximal reference group), was a stronger predictor of personal drinking than perception of other students' drinking (a distal reference group). This implies that efforts to prevent alcohol abuse among college students would be more effective if administered in the context of proximal groups. Contrary to previous studies, no significant differences were observed in the relative importance of attitudes and perceptions in predicting drinking across genders. Among various other sub-groups of the sample, the drinking behavior of students with lower GPAs and students in their lower years of college was found to be more influenced by social perceptions than was the drinking behavior of students with higher GPAs or those in the upper years. This would imply that students with lower GPAs and those in the lower years should be targeted for the prevention of alcohol abuse through the use of mechanisms which would address their perception of the drinking norm. This author proposes the use of discussion groups consisting of peers in efforts to clarify and change drinking norms, attitudes, and behavior.