Social Norms Programs Work, Despite Study

To the editors:

In response to the article ‘Social Norms Programs Fail,” in which Henry Wechsler again attacks social norms interventions based on the findings of his recently published study, I would like to echo the concerns of many other researchers and cast doubt on the study’s accuracy (Op-ed, Sept. 12). The study’s methods used to identify participating social norms colleges are flawed, therefore rendering all the data in the study suspect. Many of the participating schools reported incorporating positive norm messages into student programs but this is qualitatively different than conducting a comprehensive social norms marketing campaign.

Research indicates that colleges that take a social norms approach to tackling the issue of high-risk drinking achieve an average 20 percent reduction in only two years. When properly executed, the social norms approach remains the most effective science-based intervention with an extensive and growing literature documenting its success.

One only has to look at the bibliography section of the National Social Norms Resource Center website or The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse by H. Wesley Perkins for many outcome studies and peer-reviewed articles showing social norms as a sound approach for reducing high-risk alcohol use.

MICHAEL P. HAINES

DeKalb, Ill.

Sept. 16, 2003

The writer is director of the National Social Norms Resource Center Social Science Research Institute at Northern Illinois University.