Resistance to peer influence moderates the relationship between perceived (but not actual) peer norms and binge drinking in a college student social network
Name:
Publisher version
View Source
Access full-text PDFOpen Access
View Source
Check access options
Check access options
Authors
DiGuiseppi, Graham T.Meisel, Matthew K.
Balestrieri, Sara G.
Ott, Miles Q.
Cox, Melissa J.
Clark, Melissa A.
Barnett, Nancy P.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2018-05-01Keywords
AlcoholBinge drinking
College
Resistance to peer influence
Social norms
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Health Psychology
Substance Abuse and Addiction
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
INTRODUCTION: Adolescent and young adult binge drinking is strongly associated with perceived social norms and the drinking behavior that occurs within peer networks. The extent to which an individual is influenced by the behavior of others may depend upon that individual's resistance to peer influence (RPI). METHODS: Students in their first semester of college (N=1323; 54.7% female, 57% White, 15.1% Hispanic) reported on their own binge drinking, and the perceived binge drinking of up to 10 important peers in the first-year class. Using network autocorrelation models, we investigated cross-sectional relationships between participant's binge drinking frequency and the perceived and actual binge drinking frequency of important peers. We then tested the moderating role of RPI, expecting that greater RPI would weaken the relationship between perceived and actual peer binge drinking on participant binge drinking. RESULTS: Perceived and actual peer binge drinking were statistically significant predictors of participant binge drinking frequency in the past month, after controlling for covariates. RPI significantly moderated the association between perceptions of peer binge drinking and participant's own binge drinking; this association was weaker among participants with higher RPI compared to those with lower RPI. RPI did not interact with the actual binge drinking behavior of network peers. CONCLUSIONS: RPI may function to protect individuals from the effect of their perceptions about the binge drinking of peers, but not from the effect of the actual binge drinking of peers.Source
Addict Behav. 2018 May;80:47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.12.020. Epub 2017 Dec 20. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.12.020Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/46716PubMed ID
29331611Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.12.020