University Overview

The University of Virginia is a public institution located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The University was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and is noted for its academic excellence. Student enrollement stands at nearly 21,000, including an undergraduate population of 13,600. The student body is diverse, representing 48 of the U.S. states and 109 different countries. Fraternities and sororities play a significant role in undergraduate life, representing one-quarter of the undergraduate population. In response to the prevalence of adverse consequences due to drinking among undergraduate students, the Office of Health Promotion in the Department of Student Health developed and administered a social norms campaign to limit hazardous drinking behaviors.

Program Funding Source

The project is funded, in part, through an unrestricted gift from the Anheuser-Busch Companies and its Charitable Foundation.

Program Overview

The ultimate goals of the social norms campaign at UVA are to reduce the adverse consequences associated with drinking among undergraduate students. The objectives of the social norms campagin are to: 1) disseminate results of the Health Promotion Survey to students in an attractive format, in places where it may be viewed repeatedly, 2) correct misperceptions of normative behaviors associated with student alcohol use, including the use of protective behaviors, and 3) reduce hazardous drinking by undergraduate students.

The first social norms interventions began in the fall of 1999 with a poster campaign about drinking behaviors marketed to first-year students. This poster, known as the Stall Seat Journal, uses statistics on drinking habits based on a random sample survey of first-year students. This poster series expanded in 2002 to include a second series focusing on all undergraduate students. Both campaigns include statistics from the annual Health Promotion Survey, administered to a random sampling of undergraduate students. The campus-wide social norms program includes "Honor" posters, mouse pads, and adhesive calendars with a campus-wide statistic.

The "Honor" posters are distributed twice monthly to high-traffic areas of the University. They display statistics about the alcohol-related protective behaviors which UVA students demonstrate and connect exhibiting those behaviors with "honor" - a central tenet of the UVA culture. In essence, the campaign suggests that engaging in protective behaviors is honorable. Samples include:

Poster: Honor is walking a friend home...
Poster: Defining honor...
Poster: Redefining honor...

The mouse pads display a similar message with the honor theme, and are distributed annually to campus libraries. The adhesive calendars are narrow rectangular stickers placed on the edge of computer screens in campus libraries, displaying one statistic about drinking behavior. The calendars are distributed once yearly to University libraries.

The Stall Seat Journal posters are placed primarily in first-year dorm bathrooms (with gender-specific information) and other select locations such as the Student Union bathrooms. They are distributed monthly and deal with a wider range of relevant social issues. Drinking behaviors provide the central social norms messages depicted in this poster series, while other messages include how to practice safer sex, things to do in Charlottesville, and the importance of sleep to college students. The posters typically display more text than "Honor" posters since they are displayed inside the bathroom stalls before a somewhat captive audience. Samples include:

108 Stress Relievers
The 222 of Charlottesville
Drinking myths

The campus-wide campaign is supplemented by the annual "hooFEST" event hosted at the beginning of the school year by the Office of Health Promotion to promote the social norms of UVA student drinking. This event is intended primarily for first-year students in an effort to encourage networking with their peers and to reach them with social norms messages about drinking behaviors early in their college careers. The messages are delivered to students at the event via promotional items including CDs, Frisbees, napkins, and pens which all display a statistic calculated from the yearly Health Promotion survey. Even the student a cappella groups who perform at the event include a pre-selected norm statistic as part of their performances. Samples include:

HooFest flier

Statistics used in the 2007-2008 Social Norms campaign

• 65% of UVA students drink 0-4 when they go out
• 90% of UVA students usually intervene to stop their friends from drinking and driving
• 83% of UVA students usually stay and monitor a friend if they are passed out
• 80% of UVA students usually call 911 if they are with someone who is showing signs of alcohol poisoning
• 70% of UVA students have NOT missed class as a result of their drinking

Written Publications

Bauerle, J., Social Norms Marketing Review at the University of Virginia, The Report on Social Norms, Working Paper, Paperclip Communications, Little Falls, NJ., Vol. 2 (8), June, 2003.

Turner, J.C., Bauerle, J., & Shu, J. Estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration (eBAC) Correlation with Self-reported and Observed Negative Consequences among College Students Using Alcohol. Journal on Alcohol, November, 2004 Vol. 65 (6).

Turner, J.C., Perkins, H..W. & Bauerle, J. Declining negative consequences related to alcohol misuse among students exposed to a social norma marketing intervention on a college campus. Journal of American College Health (in press)

Further Information

For further information, please visit the UVA program web site: http://www.virginia.edu/studenthealth/hp/norms.