Crystal Reinhart, PhD & Beth Welbes, MSPH Center for Prevention Research and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Social Norms Theory and Marketing Campaigns: Application and Evaluation Acknowledgments This study was funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services. Special thanks to the community-based organization and six schools that aided this study through their participation in the study and campaign. Conclusions The results of the study are promising, but ultimately inconclusive when reviewing the impact of the social norms marketing campaign on alcohol use. Promise can be found in the impact that the campaign had on perceptions of peer alcohol use and peer drunkenness. Despite limitations, the data demonstrates that the intervention school reported lower rates of drinking alcohol and getting drunk than the control school in 10 th, 11 th, and 12 th grade, despite starting with significantly higher consumption in 9 th grade. This is an encouraging outcome for the intervention school. The current study provides a foundation upon which future research can continue to build. A controlled study utilizing matched student surveys across time points would help to further understand the impact that exposure to a campaign has on perceived peer use and personal alcohol use among high school students. Aim The goal of this study was to examine the impact of a social norms campaign on perceived peer alcohol use and actual self-reported alcohol use in high school youth. Survey data was collected from youth participating in an ongoing social norms marketing campaign in five suburban Chicago high schools, as well as a control school that was not receiving the campaign. Survey responses were compared for youth exposed to the campaign with youth in the control school over a four year period. Introduction Social norms theory is based on the idea that people assume the most extreme, and therefore the most memorable, behavior is also the most common. Social norms marketing corrects misperceptions by collecting data about the behavior and then marketing accurate information about the behavior to the target audience. The concept of social norms marketing originated out of Perkins and Berkowitz’s (1986) research which found that: College students overestimated peer alcohol use. Students believed their peers were more tolerant of alcohol use than self ‐ reported data revealed to be true. Social norms theory suggests that reducing misperceptions can ultimately lead to a reduction in the problem behavior (Perkins, 1997). While social norms marketing began with binge drinking in college, many other potential topical areas are being explored for this approach, including bullying (Perkins, Craig, & Perkins, 2011) and childhood obesity (Perkins, Perkins, & Craig, 2010). So far, however, there is limited existing research on high school-focused social norms marketing, which focuses on not using rather than reduction of use. Baseline data collected from 3 rural high schools in one study revealed that students misperceive both the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption among their peers. (Hughes et al., 2008). Further support for the social norms approach was provided by the finding that high school students tended to drink at around the same rate as they perceived their friends to drink (Hughes et al., 2008). These findings confirm the presence of the same population characteristics under which the social norms approach has been successful in college-level applications. Method Study Setting / Population The social norms marketing campaign was conducted in five suburban Chicago high schools. The Drug Use and Perceptions survey was conducted with youth in all five schools receiving the campaign as well as the control school. Of the five schools, only one school with similar characteristics (e.g., campus design, size, and demographics) to the control school was selected for comparison. There were a total of 2,359 intervention school students and 1,725 control school students (Table 1). Instrument The Drug Use and Perceptions surveys were collected at the same time each year in April to maintain consistency. The survey measured four concepts, including: Perceived peer use of alcohol Personal use of alcohol Attitudes and personal beliefs regarding alcohol Campaign material recognition and believability Social Norms Campaign Data collected via surveys in the spring were used to create marketing materials in the subsequent fall. Materials were refreshed throughout the year and included posters, newsletters, presentations, and promotional items. Materials utilized data collected from all five high schools (10,835 students). This was done because 67% of students indicated the data would be most believable if it included data from all five schools, rather than just their one school. Data Analysis The survey data from the intervention and control schools was compared using odds ratios, and significance was tested using Chi-Square (p>.05). The intervention school started with a significantly higher rate of both actual alcohol use and getting drunk. Results To assess youth perceptions and use of alcohol, we utilized the following four questions: “About how often (if ever) do most students at your school drink alcohol? “About how often (if ever) do most students at your school get drunk? About how often (if ever) do you drink alcohol? “About how often (if ever) do you get drunk? * Response options included “Never,” “Yearly,” “Monthly,” “Weekly,” and “Daily” While no differences existed during 9 th grade, students at the intervention school reported a significantly lower perception of monthly peer alcohol use during the 10 th (p=.009) and 11 th grades (p=.000) when compared to the control school (Figure 2). Control school students were 1.8 times more likely in the 10 th grade and 2.8 times more likely in the 11 th grade to perceive that their peers drank alcohol. Intervention school students were significantly higher on actual alcohol use during 9 th grade (p=.041), and significantly lower during 10 th grade (p=.035), but this did not continue over time to the 11 th and 12 th grades. Intervention school students also had a significantly lower perception of monthly peer drunkenness in both the 10 th (p=.008) and 11 th grades (p=.000) (Figure 3). Control school students were 1.6 times more likely in the 10 th grade and 2.4 times more likely in the 11 th grade to perceive that their peers were getting drunk. Regarding actual frequency of getting drunk, intervention school students were significantly higher during 9 th grade (p=.004) and were lower than control students in 10 th, 11 th, and 12 th grades, but these differences were not statistically significant. Discussion and Limitations The significant difference in alcohol use between the intervention school and control school in 9 th grade makes it difficult to determine the impact of the social norms marketing campaign on actual alcohol use rates. The intervention school students on which the results are based were exposed to campaign materials for 8 months prior to completing the survey in April of the first year. It is unknown if this effected their response rates, since a “true” baseline was not collected. Student surveys were not tracked across years using unique student identification numbers due to the large number of students from whom data was collected each year. Unmatched surveys make it impossible to adjust for the differences in reported alcohol use at 9 th grade, and in turn make it impossible to determine the true impact of the social norms marketing campaign on drinking behavior. Table 1: Intervention and Control School Samples Figure 1: Social Norms Marketing Poster Examples Figure 2: Past Month Alcohol Use Figure 3: Past Month “Getting Drunk” School Year 1: 9 th Grade Year 2: 10 th Grade Year 3: 11 th Grade Year 4: 12 th Grade Control Intervention