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Updated: May 29, 2026

Modeling Alcohol Consumption in Rodents Using Two-Bottle Choice Home Cage Drinking and Microstructural Analysis
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Published on: November 8, 2024

Descriptive drinking norms: For whom does reference group matter?

Mary E Larimer1, Clayton Neighbors, Joseph W LaBrie

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA. larimer@uw.edu

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
|September 13, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

College students often overestimate alcohol consumption norms, especially for general groups. Perceptions become more accurate with group specificity, but still overestimate, suggesting tailored interventions are needed.

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Published on: January 7, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Public Health
  • Substance Use Research

Background:

  • Perceived descriptive drinking norms influence personal alcohol consumption.
  • Normative perceptions may vary based on the specificity of the reference group.
  • Understanding these perceptions is crucial for effective public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine how perceived descriptive drinking norms relate to actual drinking behavior.
  • To investigate if norm accuracy and its relation to behavior increase with reference group specificity.
  • To determine if these relationships vary by ethnicity, sex, and fraternity/sorority status.

Main Methods:

  • Surveyed 2,699 undergraduates (58% female, 75% White, 25% Asian) from two universities.
  • Assessed personal alcohol use and perceived descriptive norms for eight distinct reference groups.
  • Reference groups varied in specificity, from "typical student" to combinations of sex, ethnicity, and fraternity/sorority status.

Main Results:

  • Perceived norms were highest for the "typical student" group and became more accurate with increased similarity to the reference group.
  • Participants consistently overestimated drinking norms across all reference groups.
  • Fraternity/sorority members and men showed distinct patterns of overestimation for groups including their own status.

Conclusions:

  • Interventions for normative misperceptions should consider participant demographics and group membership.
  • While group-specific feedback is important for some, general "typical student" feedback reveals the largest discrepancies for most students.
  • Tailoring feedback based on specific group identities may enhance intervention effectiveness.