Social norms interventions to reduce excessive drinking among college students in the United States - What have we learnt?

Background: Social norms interventions aimed at correcting misperceptions of drinking norms have been increasingly employed as prevention strategies to reduce problem drinking among college students in the US. The growing body of literature has thus far not produced consistent findings regarding the effectiveness of these interventions. This review highlights key lessons and recommendations for future intervention design and evaluation based on studies that evaluated the effectiveness of campus-based social norms interventions for problem drinking prevention.

Methods: Literature search from electronic databases yielded 18 studies that met the selection criteria.

Findings: The included studies were heterogeneous in terms of campus setting, target student characteristics, interventions, behavior outcomes, and study designs. Effects of social norms interventions from these 18 studies were mixed, ranging from modest to moderate positive effects on reducing problem drinking behavior to null effects on one or more outcomes, and negative adverse effects. Based on the state of the research on social norms interventions, four recommendations to define the behavioral outcome more precisely, develop and test a theoretical framework for intervention, define the referent population, and improve evaluation design are discussed in this review.

Conclusion: Social norms interventions to reduce problem drinking among college students have demonstrated promising empiric evidence of being effective. Further theoretical and methodological enhancements in the design and implementation of future social norms interventions will be necessary to strengthen the evidence base for extending such interventions across campuses in the US.