Perceptions of normative social pressure and attitudes toward alcohol use: changes during adolescence

The present study examined age differences in perceived normative social pressure and attitudes as well as the importance of these variables for adolescent alcohol use. Seventh, ninth and eleventh graders (N = 386) completed a questionnaire. A majority of adolescents reported that friends pressured them not to use alcohol. Ninth and eleventh graders, however, perceived their friends as pressuring less against their alcohol use than did seventh graders. While parental influence decreased with age, peer influence did not show a consistent age difference across two drinking measures. As expected, the importance of perceived benefits increased with age, while that of perceived costs of alcohol use decreased with age. The findings suggest that the perceived normative pressure varies with the age and the behavior of the adolescent.