Seven out of 10 college students overestimate the amount of alcohol consumed by their peers, according to a recent study by Education Development Center Inc., one of the world's leading nonprofit education and health organizations.
Â鶹ÒùÔº incorrectly perceive that their peers consume a mean of 9.01 alcoholic drinks per week when they actually consume 4.73 drinks, according to the study. The study also found that students believe their peers consume a mean of 6.54 drinks when they party, while the actual number of drinks consumed is 3.35.
The EDC study was conducted on 18 different campuses with 5,400 randomly selected students and produced similar statistics at each of the participating schools.
Data from the study is consistent with messages often used by advocates of "social norms advertising," which emphasizes the prevalence of moderate drinking in the hope of reducing peer pressure to drink more heavily, according to Bob Maust, director of the A Matter of Degree Program on the Boulder campus. The social norms approach is being conducted at a number of schools around the country including the universities of Arizona, Missouri and Virginia.
CU-Boulder is combining the approaches of both social norms and environmental management in its A Matter of Degree Program, Maust said. The environmental approach includes campus policies such as the beer ban at Folsom Field and the new "3 Strikes" policy.
"We're certainly willing to look at any approach that reduces the risks inherent in high-risk drinking on our campus," Maust said. "While the environmental approach has been the more traditional public health technique, a few campuses similar to ours have shown very positive results with 'social norming.' "
The social norms approach was studied last fall by a senior level advertising class taught by Bear Kay, an adjunct professor and public relations officer with the Colorado State Patrol.
"At least 18 students on our campus now have a very thorough and personal understanding of the alcohol problems that every student faces when it comes to making responsible choices in regard to drinking," Kay said. "They also realize the difficulty that the university faces in addressing this problem."
CU-Boulder is one of 10 campuses participating in the A Matter of Degree project addressing drinking problems at American colleges and universities. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program applies a cooperative, public health approach to reducing campus binge drinking.