Changes in College Student Alcohol Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Perceived Drinking Norms Still Relevant?

Abstract

With widespread concern for increased alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a pressing need to examine changes in young adults’ alcohol use and to identify antecedents of increased use. We tested the hypothesis that self-reported changes in alcohol use during the pandemic (frequency, quantity, heavy episodic drinking) would relate to perceptions of peers’ changes in alcohol use. In April of 2020, 507 college students self-reported changes in their alcohol use and perceived changes in use for typical students at their university (i.e., norms). Most students in our sample reported decreased alcohol use and perceived decreases in peers’ alcohol use. Perceptions of peers’ changes in alcohol use behavior strongly related to changes in students’ own alcohol use. Findings provide strong support for norms-based strategies that can correct normative misperceptions by highlighting the fact that most college students are not in fact engaging in heavier alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19 social norms peer influence personalized normative feedback heavy episodic drinking

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arria

A. M.

Caldeira

K. M.

Allen

H. K.

Vincent

K. B.

Bugbee

B. A.

O’Grady

K. E.

(2016). Drinking like an adult? Trajectories of alcohol use patterns before and after college graduation. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 40, 583–590. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.12973

Berkowitz

A. D.

(2004). The social norms approach: Theory, research and annotated bibliography. Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. US Department of Education.

Bote

(2020). Americans are drinking more during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how much alcohol is too much? USA Today. https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus/2020/8/14

Bremner

(2020, April 1). U.S. alcohol sales increase 55 percent in one week amid coronavirus pandemic. Newsweek. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/us-alcohol-sales-increase-55-percent-one-week-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-1495510

Burnett

Sebastian

Cohen Kadosh

Blakemore

S. J.

(2011). The social brain in adolescence: Evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioural studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1654–1664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.10.011

Charles

Strong

S. J.

Burns

L. C.

Bullerjahn

M. R.

Serafine

K. M.

(2020). Increased mood disorder symptoms, perceived stress, and alcohol use among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. PsyArXiv, Pre-Print. https://psyarxiv.com/rge9k

Christensen

R. H. B.

(2018). Cumulative link models for ordinal regression with the R package ordinal. Journal of Statistical Software. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ordinal/vi

Cialdini

R. B.

Reno

R. R.

Kallgren

C. A.

(1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1015–1026. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.6.1015

Clay

J. M.

Parker

M. O.

(2020). Alcohol use and misuse during the COVID-19 pandemic: A potential public health crisis? The Lancet Public Health, 2667(20), 30088. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30088-8

10.

Collins

R. L.

Parks

G. A.

Marlatt

G. A.

(1985). Social determinants of alcohol consumption: The effects of social interaction and model status on the self-administration of alcohol. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 189–200.

11.

Cox

M. J.

DiBello

A. M.

Meisel

M. K.

Ott

M. Q.

Kenney

S. R.

Clark

M. A.

Barnett

N. P.

(2019). Do misperceptions of peer drinking influence personal drinking behavior? Results from a complete social network of first-year college students. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000455

12.

Dotson

K. B.

Dunn

M. E.

Bowers

C. A.

(2015). Stand-alone personalized normative feedback for college student drinkers: A meta-analytic review, 2004 to 2014. PLoS One, 10, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139518

13.

Dumas

T. M.

Davis

J. P.

Neighbors

(2019). How much does your peer group really drink? Examining the relative impact of overestimation, actual group drinking and perceived campus norms on university students’ heavy alcohol use. Addictive Behaviors, 40, 409–414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.11.041

14.

Dumas

T. M.

Ellis

Litt

D. M.

(2020). What does adolescent substance use look like during the COVID-19 pandemic? Examining changes in frequency, social contexts, and pandemic-related predictors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67, 354–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.018

15.

Fosnacht

Howe

Peck

L. K.

(2017). How important are high response rates for college surveys? The Review of Higher Education, 40, 245–265.

16.

Graupensperger

Fleming

C. B.

Jaffe

A. E.

Rhew

I. C.

Patrick

M. E.

Lee

C. M.

(2020). Changes in young adults’ alcohol and marijuana use, norms, and motives from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic [Manuscript submitted for publication].

17.

Graupensperger

Jaffe

A. E.

Hultgren

B. A.

Rhew

I. C.

Lee

C. M.

Larimer

M. E.

(2020). The dynamic nature of injunctive norms and time-varying associations with college student drinking. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Advance online publication.

18.

Hingson

Zha

Smyth

D. P.

(2017). Magnitude and trends in heavy episodic drinking, alcohol-impaired driving, and alcohol-related mortality and overdose hospitalizations among emerging adults of college ages 18–24 in the United States. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 78, 540–548. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2017.78.540

19.

Holmes

E. A.

O’Connor

R. C.

Perry

V. H.

Tracey

Wessely

Arseneault

Ballard

Christensen

Cohen Silver

Everall

Ford

John

Kabir

King

Madan

Michie

Przybylski

A. K.

Shafran

Sweeney

… Bullmore

(2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 0366, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30168-1

20.

Jackson

K. M.

Janssen

Gabrielli

(2018). Media/marketing influences on adolescent and young adult substance abuse. Current Addiction Reports, 5, 146–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-018-0199-6.Media/Marketing

21.

Larimer

M. E.

Kaysen

D. L.

Lee

C. M.

Kilmer

J. R.

Lewis

M. A.

Dillworth

Montoya

H. D.

Neighbors

(2009). Evaluating level of specificity of normative referents in relation to personal drinking behavior. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Supplement, 16, 115–121. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsads.2009.s16.115

22.

Lechner

W. V

Laurene

K. R.

Patel

Anderson

Grega

Kenne

D. R.

(2020). Changes in alcohol use as a function of psychological distress and social support following COVID-19 related university closings. Addictive Behaviors, 110, 106527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106527

23.

Lee

C. M.

Kilmer

J. R.

Neighbors

Cadigan

J. M.

Fairlie

A. M.

Patrick

M. E.

Logan

D. E.

Walter

White

H. R.

Lee

C. M.

(2020). A marijuana consequences checklist for young adults with implications for brief motivational intervention research. Prevention Science, Advance online publication. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33098002/

24.

Lewis

M. A.

Litt

D. M.

Neighbors

(2015). The chicken or the egg: Examining temporal precedence among attitudes, injunctive norms, and college student drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 76, 594–601. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2015.76.594

25.

Litt

D. M.

Lewis

M. A.

Rhew

I. C.

Hodge

K. A.

Kaysen

D. L.

(2015). Reciprocal relationships over time between descriptive norms and alcohol use in young adult sexual minority women. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29, 885–893. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000122

26.

Lofton

(2020). How much more is the U.S. drinking during coronavirus spread? A lot. Michigan Live. https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/how-much

27.

Mattern

J. L.

Neighbors

(2003). Social norms campaigns: Examining the relationship between changes in perceived norms and changes in drinking levels. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65, 489–493.

28.

Neighbors

DiBello

A. M.

Young

C. M.

Steers

M.-L. N.

Rinker

D. V.

Rodriguez

L. M.

Blanton

Lewis

M. A.

(2018). Personalized normative feedback for heavy drinking: An application of deviance regulation theory. Behaviour Research and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BRAT.2018.11.004

29.

Neighbors

Lee

C. M.

Lewis

M. A.

Fossos

Larimer

M. E.

(2007). Are social norms the best predictor of outcomes among heavy-drinking college students? Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, 68, 556–565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2008.05.010

30.

Neighbors

O’Connor

R. M.

Lewis

M. A.

Chawla

Lee

C. M.

Fossos

(2008). The relative impact of injunctive norms on college student drinking: The role of reference group. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 576–581. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013043

31.

Patrick

M. E.

Lee

C. M.

Neighbors

(2014). Web-based intervention to change perceived norms of college student alcohol use and sexual behavior on Spring Break. Addictive Behaviors, 39(3), 600–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.11.014

32.

Patrick

M. E.

Terry-McElrath

Y. M.

(2017). High-intensity drinking by underage young adults in the United States. Addiction, 112, 82–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13556

33.

Patrick

M. E.

Terry-McElrath

Y. M.

Evans-Polce

R. J.

Schulenberg

J. E.

(2020). Negative alcohol-related consequences experienced by young adults in the past 12 months: Differences by college attendance, living situation, binge drinking, and sex. Addictive Behaviors, 105, 106320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106320

34.

Perkins

H. W.

(2002). Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts. Journal of Studies on Alcohol Supplement, 14, 164–172. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsas.2002.s14.164

35.

Perkins

H. W.

Haines

M. P.

Rice

(2015). Misperceiving the college drinking norm and related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived norms and student alcohol misuse. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 470–478. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2005.66.470

36.

Polkavic

(2020). Pandemic drives alcohol sales—And raises concerns about substance abuse. USC News. https://news.usc.edu/168549/covid-19-alcohol-sales-abuse-stress-relapse-usc-experts/

37.

Scott-Sheldon

L. A. J.

Carey

K. B.

Carey

M. P.

(2008). Health behaviors and college students: Does Greek affiliation matter? Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1038/jid.2014.371

38.

Sparkman

Walton

G. M.

(2019). Witnessing change: Dynamic norms help resolve diverse barriers to personal change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 82, 238–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.01.007

39.

Teunissen

H. A.

Spijkerman

Prinstein

M. J.

Cohen

G. L.

Engels

R. C. M. E.

Scholte

R. H. J.

(2012). Adolescents’ conformity to their peers’ pro-alcohol and anti-alcohol norms: The power of popularity. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 36, 1257–1267. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01728.x

40.

Williams

(2016). Understanding and interpreting generalized ordered logit models. The Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 40, 7–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022250X.2015.1112384

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.04 MB