This article is taken from 'Education and Health', 2009, vol.27:3.
The social norms approach to human behaviour has important implications for health promotion and prevention. Social norms are people's beliefs about the behaviour that is expected of them in a particular social context. People's perceptions of social norms are often a good predictor of what they will say and do. For example, surveys of US college students reveal that most students greatly overestimate the amount of heavy drinking that occurs on their campus and on college campuses in general. Based on this misperception, students may conclude that heavy drinking is the social norm, which in turn may lead them to drink more. In other words, the misperception may cause students to believe they are both justified and pressured to drink at a risky level in order to be like other students. The theory predicts that overestimation of problem behaviour will increase risky behaviour while underestimation of healthy behaviours will discourage individuals from engaging in them. Thus, correcting misperceptions of group norms is likely to result in decreased problem behaviour or increased prevalence of healthy behaviours. These assumptions have been validated by extensive research on teenage and young-adult drinking and cigarette smoking and by interventions to promote safe drinking and smoking cessation.
Secondary school students
SHEU routinely asks students of secondary school age and older to estimate what proportion of their peers they think take part in various activities. By comparing their answers of estimated levels of drinking etc. amongst their peers with the actual levels recorded earlier in the Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire, we hoped to see how well the two sets of figures married up. To help young people in answering the question, they were given the following guide:
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10%
|
30%
|
50%
|
90%
|
100%
|
 |
|
None
or just a few |
Some
|
Many
|
Most of them
|
All or
nearly all |
| For the purposes of calculating averages, the following scores were used: |
| None or just a few | 5 |
| Some | 20 |
| Many | 40 |
| Most of them | 70 |
| All or nearly all | 95 |
| The scoring for this question obviously can greatly affect the results, but it is hard to defend other methods of scoring than the one used. These calculated averages were compared with actual levels (Table 1): |
|
Perhaps contrary to expectations, young people’s perceptions of the behaviour of their peers suggest that they think most other people are drinking alcohol less often, getting drunk less often and are less involved with drugs than they are. It is only for taking drugs in the last week where there is a significant over-estimate, although it should be noted that the reports of drug-taking during the week are based on a description of frequency, not whether young people actually took drugs last week. Figures for other age groups tell the same story. These findings have many implications for health promotion; it also suggests that simply disseminating the results of the study is a health promotion intervention in itself, which needs careful handling. |
Table 1 Actual and average perceived and levels of participation in health-related behaviours (Results for 16-18 year olds only) |
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Actual
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Perceived
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M
|
F
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M
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F
|
||
|
Drank alcohol last 12 months
|
84
|
91
|
58
|
62
|
||
|
Drank alcohol last 7 days
|
57
|
57
|
49
|
50
|
||
|
Been drunk once in 7 days
|
41
|
44
|
39
|
43
|
||
|
Ever been offered cannabis
|
48
|
49
|
37
|
38
|
||
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Have ever taken cannabis
|
39
|
39
|
32
|
34
|
||
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Take drugs weekly
|
02
|
02
|
|
|
||
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Taken any drugs over 7 days
|
|
|
22
|
23
|
||
|
Sample
|
1054
|
1394
|
1256
|
1550
|
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