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. 2021 Oct;9(5):531-540.
doi: 10.1177/2167696820986742. Epub 2021 Mar 12.

Changes in college student alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Are perceived drinking norms still relevant?

Scott Graupensperger  1 , Anna E Jaffe  2 , Charles N B Fleming  1 , Jason R Kilmer  1 , Christine M Lee  1 , Mary E Larimer  1
Affiliations

Changes in college student alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Are perceived drinking norms still relevant?

Scott Graupensperger et al. Emerg Adulthood. 2021 Oct.

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; Heavy Episodic Drinking; Peer Influence; Personalized Normative Feedback; Social Norms.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Histograms displaying the frequencies of responses to changes in alcohol use and perceived changes in descriptive norms. HED = Heavy episodic drinking. 1 = A lot less, 2 = Less, 3 = The same amount, 4 = More, 5 = A lot more.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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