Testing competing models of injunctive and descriptive norms for proximal and distal reference groups on alcohol attitudes and behavior

Introduction: Injunctive norms represent perceptions regarding the extent that others approve of a behavior, whereas descriptive norms represent perceptions of the extent that others engage in a behavior. This study evaluated competing path models, varying in the representation of injunctive and descriptive norm constructs, to forecast alcohol attitudes and use. Methods: College students (N = 326) answered questions about their normative perceptions regarding three relevant reference groups (typical students, friends, and parents) in the form of alcohol injunctive and descriptive norms. Personal alcohol attitudes (approval) and usage were assessed one month later. Results: The path analysis model arranged by injunctive versus descriptive found that injunctive norms explained attitudes, but descriptive norms contributed to behavior. In the path analysis model of constructs organized by reference groups, friend and parent norms uniquely contributed to attitudes, but typical student, friend, and parental norms contributed to use. Finally, the comprehensive model based on each reference group combination with injunctive and descriptive norms (e.g., typical student injunctive) determined that friend injunctive norms and parent injunctive norms uniquely forecasted alcohol attitudes, whereas typical student injunctive norms, typical student descriptive norms, and friend descriptive norms forecasted behavior. Conclusions: A novel contribution of the study is the scrutiny of competing models of alcohol norms using the same multifaceted measures. Disparate implications emerge about the role of subjective norms as a function of the approach to compute the constructs. The most nuanced insights were obtained in the final comprehensive model involving the representation of norms at the finest level of specificity.