The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption

Social norms are key predictors of college student drinking. Additionally, the social reasons for consumption (i.e. social drinking motives) are important to understanding drinking behaviour. This study investigated the effects of social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption. A total of 22...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Halim, A., Hasking, Penelope, Allen, F.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Pergamon 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48329
_version_ 1848758079097667584
author Halim, A.
Hasking, Penelope
Allen, F.
author_facet Halim, A.
Hasking, Penelope
Allen, F.
author_sort Halim, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Social norms are key predictors of college student drinking. Additionally, the social reasons for consumption (i.e. social drinking motives) are important to understanding drinking behaviour. This study investigated the effects of social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption. A total of 229 college students completed an online questionnaire assessing their drinking behaviour, social drinking motives and their perceived drinking social norms. Drinking social norms were assessed as descriptive norms (i.e. the individual's perceived prevalence of alcohol consumption), and injunctive norms (i.e. the individual's perceived approval of drinking by their peers). Additionally, injunctive norms were further separated into distal (socially distant peers) and proximal (socially close peers). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed descriptive norms, proximal injunctive norms and social motives all independently predicted alcohol consumption. Additionally, the relationship between proximal injunctive norms and consumption, and descriptive norms and consumption was mediated by social motives. Lastly, there was a significant three-way interaction between descriptive norms, distal injunctive norms and social motives on drinking. Consideration of both the individual factors and the complex interplay between social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption is necessary to further understand drinking behaviour, and to develop more effective alcohol harm-reduction strategies.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T09:38:17Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-48329
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:38:17Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Pergamon
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-483292017-09-13T14:21:32Z The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption Halim, A. Hasking, Penelope Allen, F. Social norms are key predictors of college student drinking. Additionally, the social reasons for consumption (i.e. social drinking motives) are important to understanding drinking behaviour. This study investigated the effects of social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption. A total of 229 college students completed an online questionnaire assessing their drinking behaviour, social drinking motives and their perceived drinking social norms. Drinking social norms were assessed as descriptive norms (i.e. the individual's perceived prevalence of alcohol consumption), and injunctive norms (i.e. the individual's perceived approval of drinking by their peers). Additionally, injunctive norms were further separated into distal (socially distant peers) and proximal (socially close peers). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed descriptive norms, proximal injunctive norms and social motives all independently predicted alcohol consumption. Additionally, the relationship between proximal injunctive norms and consumption, and descriptive norms and consumption was mediated by social motives. Lastly, there was a significant three-way interaction between descriptive norms, distal injunctive norms and social motives on drinking. Consideration of both the individual factors and the complex interplay between social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption is necessary to further understand drinking behaviour, and to develop more effective alcohol harm-reduction strategies. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48329 10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.07.004 Pergamon restricted
spellingShingle Halim, A.
Hasking, Penelope
Allen, F.
The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title_full The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title_fullStr The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title_full_unstemmed The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title_short The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
title_sort role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48329