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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Heavy Episodic Drinking and Alcohol Consumption in French Colleges: The Role of Perceived Social Norms
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Early View 23 Oct 2009

The effect of normative perceptions (social norms) on heavy episodic drinking (HED) behavior is well known in the U.S. college setting, but little work is available in other cultural contexts.

The objective of this study is therefore to assess whether social norms of alcohol use are related to HED in France, taking account of other influential predictors.

Overestimation of peer student prevalence is not uncommon among French university students. Furthermore, perceived peer student prevalence of HED is linked to HED frequency, even after adjusting for other correlates. Interventions correcting misperceived prevalences of HED among peer students have therefore the potential to reduce the frequency of HED in this population.


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