Leveraging Dynamic Norms to Reduce College Student Alcohol Use: A Test of Four Mediators

Social norms are common in persuasive messaging. For norms trending in a positive direction, it may be beneficial to emphasize change (i.e. dynamic norm) rather than the status quo (i.e. static norm). To test this proposition, we examined college students' responses to social norm messages enco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth communication Vol. 39; no. 7; pp. 1371 - 1382
Main Authors Reynolds-Tylus, Tobias, Martinez Gonzalez, Andrea, Skurka, Chris
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Routledge 06.06.2024
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects
Adolescent
Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol Drinking in College - psychology
Alcohol use
Alcohols
Attitudes
College students
Colleges & universities
Drinking behavior
Female
Humans
Male
Messages
Moderation
Norms
Persuasive Communication
Psychological reactance
Reactance
Self Efficacy
Social Norms
Students
Students - psychology
Undergraduate students
Universities
Young Adult
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Summary:Social norms are common in persuasive messaging. For norms trending in a positive direction, it may be beneficial to emphasize change (i.e. dynamic norm) rather than the status quo (i.e. static norm). To test this proposition, we examined college students' responses to social norm messages encouraging moderate alcohol use. Undergraduates (N = 842) were randomly assigned to view a dynamic norm ("More college students drinking in moderation"), a static descriptive norm ("Most college students drink in moderation"), or a no message control. Four mechanisms were examined as potential mediators, three of which have been examined in previous work (preconformity, perceived importance, self-efficacy) and one of which was novel (psychological reactance). Results revealed that exposure to either social norm message (dynamic or static descriptive) was associated with more favorable attitude relative to a no message control. Attitude did not differ between the dynamic norm and static descriptive norm conditions. Only psychological reactance mediated the relationship between message condition (dynamic vs. static descriptive norm) and favorable attitude. Implications and future directions are discussed.
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ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2023.2212447