"We drink, therefore we are": The role of group identification and norms in sustaining and challenging heavy drinking "culture"

Citation

Livingstone AG, Young H & Manstead ASR (2011) "We drink, therefore we are": The role of group identification and norms in sustaining and challenging heavy drinking "culture". Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 14 (5), pp. 637-649. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430210392399

Abstract
We consider how ingroup norms, identification and individual attitudes interact when a behaviour (heavy alcohol consumption) is defining of an ingroup identity. We sampled 115 students at a UK university, measuring ingroup identification and attitudes to heavy drinking before manipulating the ingroup drinking norm (moderate vs. heavy). Heavy drinking intentions and tendencies to socially include/exclude two target students-one of whom drank alcohol regularly and one of whom did not-were measured. As predicted, participants with a positive attitude to heavy drinking and who identified strongly with the ingroup reported stronger intentions to drink heavily when the ingroup had a moderate, rather than a heavy drinking norm, indicating resistance to the normative information. A complementary pattern emerged for the social inclusion/exclusion measures. Implications for theory and interventions that focus on group norms are discussed.

Keywords
attitudes; group identification; group processes; heavy drinking; norms

Journal
Group Processes and Intergroup Relations: Volume 14, Issue 5