Partnership Launches Social Norming Campaign
January 17, 2000
University Park, Pa. – The University Park Campus - Community Partnership (UPCCP), a team of 44 representatives from the University and the Centre Region working to reduce high-risk behavior associated with drinking, has developed a community-wide campaign to let students know that their peers drink a lot less than they may think.
The UPCCP campaign uses social norms theory, which assumes that students overestimate the extent to which other students engage in high-risk drinking and this overestimation may cause some students to drink at higher levels. "We hope that correcting these misperceptions with research-based information will reduce high risk drinking," says Susan Kennedy, associate director for University Health Services. She says social norming had been used at several universities across the country with success, including Michigan State University and the University of Virginia.
The main message of the campaign is -- 70% of Penn State Students Drink Smart. That is, they have zero to four drinks in one sitting and do not drink to get drunk. The 70 percent is based on student responses to the 1999 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey conducted at 20 Penn State campuses. Students at these campuses were randomly selected and mailed a survey about drug and alcohol use - their own, other students' and on campus.
The second message of the campaign is -- Friends Don't Let Friends Get Alcohol Poisoning. Advertisements, posters on campus and downtown, public service announcements, and table tents in the dining halls provide students with information about how to help a friend who has passed out or is unresponsive as a result of drinking.
Linda LaSalle, community health educator for University Health Services, says through focus groups and other methods, 100 students were asked for input into the campaign and the of messages they thought would work best. The focus groups included first-year students, Greek students, athletes, random undergraduate students and high school students. "We wanted to talk with high-risk populations, such as first-year students, and were also interested in what the average student thought."
According to LaSalle, the consensus was that students wanted tips and suggestions about how to drink smarter and how to respond to emergency situations. The focus groups were conducted over the course of three semesters from summer 1999 through spring 2000.
Funding for the campaign came from the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the PSU-PLCB Partnership and University Health Services. Steve Tressler of Mountain View Studios donated his photography services to the project and Barash Advertising donated its full complement of design and advertising services to create all of the materials for the campaign. "Helping young people protect their health and life is at the core of this issue," says Mimi Fredman, chairman of Barash Advertising. "Part of our business philosophy is to give where it is needed most. We feel that it is our civic responsibility to help solve this very complex problem."
Tammy Gentzel, director of Wellspring From on Drugs, Inc. and member of the UPCCP, says there is no one solution to stopping high risk drinking. "The social norming campaign cannot, in and of itself, stop high risk drinking. High risk drinking is a social phenomena that has many contributing factors. Having said that, education regarding social norms and misperceptions regarding those norms is certainly a key component in formulating a solution."
According to Betty Moore, director of student affairs research and assessment, the effectiveness of the social norming campaign will be measured in the Student Drinking Pulse Survey, which will be conducted this spring.2
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