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Abstract #148750

Brenda Marshall, EdD, CHES, MAC and Imani Rutledge. Health and Nutrition Sciences, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave, University Hall 4163, Montclair, NJ 07043, 973 655 5179, marshallb@mail.montclair.edu

Montclair State University (MSU) was identified by the U.S. Department of Education as one of four 2006 model programs to reduce alcohol consumption by college students. MSU is in the fourth year of a successful, comprehensive social marketing campaign. In 2006 MSU identified resident freshmen as possible high-risk drinkers and developed freshmen focused enhancements to the existing program. These additions included a pilot program designed to investigate and evaluate incoming freshmen drinking norms, perceptions and patterns of alcohol-use behavior and an increased exposure to the social norms campaign. The Campus Survey of Alcohol and Other Drug Norms Campus Survey was conducted in freshmen general education classes in September 2006 (n = 422). Results from the survey revealed that most (59.1%) of incoming freshmen (mean age = 18.1) drank alcohol as frequently as once a month or more, and most (82.1%) held the misperception that their peers drank even more frequently than they did. During the fall semester one of the two freshmen resident halls was identified as a control hall, and the other as an experimental hall. After only 4 months results from this quasi-experimental designed study demonstrated a significant reduction in drinking, resident hall violations and assaults in the experimental hall. The social norms campaign that has been successful in reaching our 16,000 students achieved a significant effect when delivered in an increased dose to resident freshmen.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will identify the difference between actual and perceived norms.
• Participants will recognize the theoretical construct behind social norms.
• Participants will be able to discuss the strategies used in a social norms campaign.
• Participants will be able to identify and evaluate their campus's capacity to implement a social norms campaign to reduce excessive alcohol use behaviors.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, Prevention

Related Web page: montclair.edu/wellness/socialnorms

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.