Michigan State University

16% decrease in median number of drinks consumed per occasion for graduate and undergraduate students over the 8 year project period. 18% decrease in number of students consuming 6 or more drinks and a 22% reduction in those consuming 8 or more drinks per occasion. A concurrent increase of 19% in those consuming at a more moderate level of 0-4 per occasion.

Background

Michigan State University (MSU) was founded in 1855 as the first public land grant university in the nation. The current student population is 46,648, of which 36,337 are in undergraduate programs and 10,311 are studying at the graduate and professional level. In the late 1990's and into the early 2000's, MSU experienced a number of issues attributed to high-risk drinking, including several unfortunate and highly publicized civil disturbances. These incidents resulted in the formation of an "Action Team" consisting of representatives from the campus and surrounding community. Implementation of a social norms campaign to challenge the social context of high-risk drinking was one of the key recommendations made by the Action Team, and was subsequently supported and adopted by university leadership.

Project Description

The social norms project at MSU has utilized a multi-tiered approach, focusing on the global—or "everyday" norms— associated with alcohol use on campus, as well as the norms associated with specific celebratory events. For both the global campaign and the celebratory events campaign, social norms messages have centered on consumption as well as students' use of protective behaviors to reduce harm associated with high risk drinking. The celebratory events that the project has focused on have included Tailgating, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day and Spring Break.

Marketing Methods Employed

Strategies used to distribute the social norms message have included:

  • Newspaper ads (print and electronic)
  • Facebook ads
  • Tabletop displays
  • Posters
  • Flyers
  • Classroom presentations and academic orientation (inclusing use of clicker technology)
  • Billboards
  • Coasters
  • BAC cards
  • T-shirts
  • Training of counseling staff, judicial staff, clinical staff and residence hall staff to provide individualized normative feedback.
  • Web-based alcohol education programs which incorporate normative feedback, used for all incoming freshmen and judicially referred students
Results to Date

Based on analyses of the 2008 NCHA survey compared to baseline survey in 2000, there has been a consistent downward trend in misperceptions, alcohol consumption and associated harms, and a corresponding upward trend in use of some protective behaviors throughout the 8 year project period. Specifically, the following improvements have been identified:
  • 11% reduction for undergraduates in the median number of drinks consumed (from 4.6 drinks in 2000 to 4.1 drinks in 2008)
  • The perception of the amount consumed by the typical undergrad has dropped 8% (from a median of 5.3 at baseline to 4.9 drinks in 2008).
  • The percentage of undergraduate students reporting 0-4 drinks increased from 44% in 2000 to 49% in 2008, a gain of 12%. It is important to point out that there has been a corresponding 10% decrease in those reporting consumption of 6 or more drinks per occasion (from 45% in 2000 to 41% in 2008).
  • Extreme consumption (8 or more) among undergraduates has decreased from 31% to 26%, which represents a 16% drop over the eight year period.
  • Impact on graduate students has been even more dramatic. Since 2000, female grad students consuming 0-4 drinks per occasion increased from 64% to 82% representing a gain of 27%. During that same time period, the percentage of male graduate students reporting 0-4 drinks increased from 49 to 76%, representing a gain of 53%.
  • For all students, academic harm associated with alcohol use has decreased by 16% since 2000, and forced sex and unprotected sex related to alcohol use have decreased by 50% and 30% respectively. All reported harms associated with alcohol use have decreased over the 8 year period and those reporting experiencing any harm have decreased by 7%.
  • Alternating drinks, planning not to exceed a certain limit, using a designated driver, eating before or whle drinking, pacing drinks, and drinking look-alikes are protective behaviors that have all increased over the 8 year period.
In 2005, for the first time, a majority of MSU students (57%) reported that they drank 0-4 drinks the last time they partied. This has held since that time, and the program has been able to prepare messages using 0-4 rather than 0-5 as the majority drinking pattern. Given the correlation between amount consumed and harm, reducing consumption is a critical protective behavior and a priority for the program. Project staff are currently working on further analysis of the 8 year project, including the synergistic effect of the combination of the global and celebratory campaigns, survey methodology, connection between use of certain protective behaviors and occurrence of harm, identifying subjective norms and message delivery methods for reducing misperceptions among friendship groups, and fear of consequences and the interaction between perceived susceptibility to consequences and self-efficacy in averting harm.

Funding Source

The Michigan State University project is funded, in part, through an unrestricted gift from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation.

Principle Investigator

Dennis Martell, Ph.D.
Health Education Services Coordinator
Michigan State University
353 Olin Health Center
East Lansing, MI 48824
[email protected]

For additional information about the project at Michigan State University, visit its web site. Contents of the site include a brief review of social norms theory, information for students and researchers and campaign products from baseline year through 2009.

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