Evaluation Of A Social Norms Marketing Campaign To Reduce High-Risk Drinking At The University Of Mississippi - .Statistical Data Included - )

American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, May, 2001 by Laura Gomberg, Shari Kessel Schneider, William DeJong

The mean number of drinks consumed per week by male students decreased by 4.20 drinks from the pretest to the second posttest (21.81 drinks versus 17.61 drinks; t = 2.80, df = 433, p [is less than] .01). The mean number of drinks consumed by women decreased over this period, but only by 0.90 drinks (9.90 drinks versus 9.00 drinks; t = 1.32, df = 507, p [is greater than] .05). Likewise, the mean number of days per week on which students drank decreased from September to April, by 0.36 days for men (3.25 days versus 2.89 days; t = 2.71, df = 493, p [is less than] .01) and 0.19 days for women (2.66 days versus 2.47 days; t = 1.87, df = 544, p [is greater than] .05).

At the pretest, just over half of students (52.9%) were categorized as high-risk drinkers, but by the second posttest, fewer than half (44.7%) were so categorized ([Chi-square] = 6.31, df = 1, p [is less than] .05). As shown in Table 2, rate decreases were seen for both men (7.2%; [Chi-square] = 2.31, df = 1, p [is greater than] .05) and women (5.8%; [Chi-square] = 1.78, df = 1, p [is greater than] .05). At all three survey administrations, the proportion of men who could be categorized as high-risk drinkers was significantly higher than the proportion of women. At the pretest, 65.6% of men and 40.5% of women reported high-risk drinking ([Chi-square] = 32.36, df = 1, p [is less than] .001), at the first posttest, 61.0% of men and 40.6% of women reported high-risk drinking ([Chi-square] = 20.46, df = 1, p [is less than] .001), and at the second posttest, 58.4% of men and 34.7% of women reported high-risk drinking ([Chi-square] = 23.49, df = 1, p [is less than] .001).

White students consistently drank more than non-white students across all survey administrations and with respect to all measures of drinking. For example, at the pretest, 85.0% of white students and 39.8% of non-white students reporting drinking alcohol ([Chi-square] = 99.41, df = 1, p [is less than] .001), and at the second posttest, 86.4% of whites and 47.3% of non-whites reported drinking alcohol ([Chi-square] = 107.09, df = 1, p [is less than] .001). White students also reported more high-risk drinking across all tests, with 54.7% of whites and 13.6% of non-whites reporting high-risk drinking at the pretest ([Chi-square] = 14.27, df = 1, p [is less than] .001), and 45.9% of whites and 19.0% of non-whites reporting high-risk drinking at the second posttest ([Chi-square] = 5.81, df = 1, p [is less than] .05).

Perceived Drinking Norms

Table 3 shows the percentage of students answering true to each of five factual statements about current drinking norms at the University of Mississippi. Comparing the pretest with the second posttest, there were significant increases in the percentage of students who correctly answered questions about these norms, all of which were the subject of JTF newspaper advertisements. Of particular interest is perception of the high-risk drinking norm, indicated by students answering true to the statement, "Over half of college students do not binge drink." For all students, accurate reporting of this norm increased over time, with 23.5% of students at the pretest and 31.6% of students at the second posttest who believed correctly that high-risk drinking is not the norm ([Chi-square] = 11.29, df = 2, p [is less than] .01).