Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Personal drinking and sociocultural drinking norms: a representative population study.

T Cameron Wild1

  • 1Addiction and Mental Health Research Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. cam.wild@ualberta.ca

Journal of Studies on Alcohol
|August 6, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Frequent heavy drinkers perceive alcohol use as more normal among their peers and overestimate others' drinking habits. They adjust their beliefs to align their own drinking with perceived social norms, impacting public health interventions.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The relationship between COVID-19 and opioid-related emergency department visits in Alberta, Canada: an interrupted time series analysis.

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice·2025
Same author

Assessing support for substance use policies among the general public and policy influencers in two Canadian provinces.

Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy·2024
Same author

Assessing support for mental health policies among policy influencers and the general public in Alberta and Manitoba, Canada.

International journal of mental health systems·2024
Same author

The development and evaluation of a provider-focused educational intervention about alcohol use disorder in patients with cirrhosis.

Canadian liver journal·2023
Same author

Canadian newspaper coverage on harm reduction featuring bereaved mothers: A mixed methods analysis.

PloS one·2023
Same author

Treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) with isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP) in an inner-city population with psychosocial barriers to treatment adherence: A qualitative descriptive study.

PLOS global public health·2023

Area of Science:

  • Social psychology
  • Public health
  • Substance abuse research

Background:

  • Understanding the relationship between personal alcohol consumption and perceptions of social norms is crucial for public health.
  • Heavy drinking is often influenced by perceived social acceptability and peer behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between personal heavy alcohol use and sociocultural expectations regarding alcohol consumption.
  • To test the hypothesis that frequent heavy drinkers exhibit biases in their perception of social norms for alcohol use.

Main Methods:

  • A survey of 937 Ontario residents who consumed alcohol in the past year.
  • Participants compared their alcohol intake to that of friends, coworkers, and the general public.
  • Respondents estimated alcohol consumption in various contexts and rated factors defining problem drinking.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Frequent heavy drinkers perceived heavy alcohol use as more common in social groups compared to lighter drinkers.
  • They overestimated the quantity of alcohol consumed by social and problem drinkers.
  • Heavy drinkers were less likely to consider intoxication frequency as indicative of problem drinking.

Conclusions:

  • Frequent heavy drinkers adjust their beliefs about group drinking to normalize their own behavior.
  • Findings suggest implications for developing targeted public health interventions for alcohol misuse.