Social Norms Campaign to Reduce College Student Excessive Alcohol Use Behavior

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.