All My Friends Are Doing It: Perceived Social Norms Predict Heavier Sports Betting Behavior Among Young Adults

Abstract

Sports betting is the fastest growing gambling behavior in the United States, particularly among young adults. Despite burgeoning evidence of the public health concerns associated with sports betting, antecedents of this addictive behavior are largely understudied. Informed by seminal psychological theories of conformity and existing norms-based prevention paradigms for high-risk behavior, the current study aimed to quantitatively examine perceived social norms as a potential explanatory factor for sports betting behavior. The sample was comprised of 221 young adults from 36 different U.S. states (M_age = 24.4; 77.7% male; 64.6% White). Eligibility criteria included betting on sports at least twice in the past month. At baseline, participants reported perceptions of friends’ sports betting approval and engagement for the next 2 weeks and then 2 weeks later reported indices of their own sports betting behavior. Generally, young adults perceived their peers to wager much more on sports betting than they themselves reported wagering, suggesting potential normative misperceptions in line with social norms theory. Those who perceived their friends to be more accepting of, and more engaged in sports betting, reported engaging in more sports betting behaviors in the subsequent 2-week period. Injunctive norms more strongly predicted young adults’ total number of bets, whereas descriptive norms more strongly predicted total amount wagered and negative consequences. Findings provide foundational evidence for peer influence processes on sports betting behaviors among young adults. These key early-stage findings inform how social norms may be leveraged within forthcoming prevention/intervention approaches aimed at stymieing the rapidly growing harms associated with sports betting.