Social Norms Campaign at UMD
2003 - 2004

Beginning with the 2001-02 school year, UMD adopted a Social Norms model to address college student drinking. This model asserts that student behavior is affected by their perceptions of their peers' behavior. Specifically, if students perceive that their peers are drinking more than they actually are, there will be pressure to follow this imagined or false norm. In addition, there will be less support for the healthy norm already present within the population.

Through a campus-based media campaign, students are targeted with the true statistics of alcohol consumption. As students are offered more accurate estimates of student drinking, we believe the misconceptions will drop, and ultimately so will heavy drinking.

Peer Education Program

During the fall of 2001, eight students from the Peer Education Program (PEP) gave presentations about student misconceptions of alcohol use. They were invited to visit academic classes and talked to about 700 freshmen. One of their goals was to show students how they misperceive the amount of alcohol students drink.

The PEP students administered a short survey the first day. They went back to class the second day with the survey results and other information about making safer choices regarding alcohol. For a list of the survey questions and the results, see: PEP Alcohol Mini-Survey

In December 2002, the Peer Educators developed a poster campaign called ABSOLUT RESPONSIBILITY - Designated Driver Campaign. The purpose is to blanket the campus with the importance of being a designated driver and what makes a "real" designated driver. For details, see: PEP Poster Campaign.

Where did we get our statistics?

The National College Health Survey was administered Spring 2001 to 546 UMD students, which gave baseline information on alcohol use at UMD. A media campaign was developed from these statistics.

To view the data highlights, see UMD Alcohol Highlights from the National College Health Survey.

What about other schools?

Other schools have shown remarkable decline in heavy drinking among college students in 2 years after implementing a Social Norming Campaign.

• Hobart & Smith - 21%
• Western Washington - 20%
• University of Missouri - 18%
• University of Arizona- 21% (28% over 5 years)
• Northern Illinois - 18% (44% over 10 years)

For more information, see The National Social Norms Resource Center.

2003 - 2004 Media Campaign

Following are the posters and corresponding newspaper ads which are displayed on campus and in the campus newspaper (The Statesman) throughout the school year.

To view a larger image of a poster, click on the image.