Transcript Document

Social Norms Theory and Marketing Campaigns: Application and Evaluation
Crystal Reinhart, PhD & Beth Welbes, MSPH
Center for Prevention Research and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion and Limitations
• 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.
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).
• 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”
• The significant difference in alcohol use between the
intervention school and control school in 9th grade makes
it difficult to determine the impact of the social norms
marketing campaign on actual alcohol use rates.
• 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.
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.
Table 1: Intervention and Control School Samples
School
Year 1:
9th Grade
Year 2:
10th Grade
Year 3:
11th Grade
Year 4:
12th Grade
Control
484
426
414
401
Intervention
676
574
564
545
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
• While no differences existed during 9th grade, students
at the intervention school reported a significantly lower
perception of monthly peer alcohol use during the 10th
(p=.009) and 11th grades (p=.000) when compared to
the control school (Figure 2).
• Control school students were 1.8 times more likely in
the 10th grade and 2.8 times more likely in the 11th
grade to perceive that their peers drank alcohol.
• Intervention school students were significantly higher
on actual alcohol use during 9th grade (p=.041), and
significantly lower during 10th grade (p=.035), but this
did not continue over time to the 11th and 12th grades.
Figure 2: Past Month Alcohol Use
Figure 1: Social
Norms Marketing
Poster Examples
• Unmatched surveys make it impossible to adjust for the
differences in reported alcohol use at 9th grade, and in
turn make it impossible to determine the true impact of
the social norms marketing campaign on drinking
behavior.
Conclusions
• The results of the study are promising, but ultimately
inconclusive when reviewing the impact of the social
norms marketing campaign on alcohol use.
• Despite limitations, the data demonstrates that the
intervention school reported lower rates of drinking
alcohol and getting drunk than the control school in
10th, 11th, and 12th grade, despite starting with
significantly higher consumption in 9th grade. This is
an encouraging outcome for the intervention school.
• Intervention school students also had a significantly
lower perception of monthly peer drunkenness in both
the 10th (p=.008) and 11th grades (p=.000) (Figure 3).
• Control school students were 1.6 times more likely in
the 10th grade and 2.4 times more likely in the 11th
grade to perceive that their peers were getting drunk.
• Regarding actual frequency of getting drunk,
intervention school students were significantly higher
during 9th grade (p=.004) and were lower than control
students in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, but these
differences were not statistically significant.
Figure 3: Past Month “Getting Drunk”
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.
• 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.
• Promise can be found in the impact that the campaign
had on perceptions of peer alcohol use and peer
drunkenness.
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.
• 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.
• 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.
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.