The Chicken or the Egg: Examining TemporalPrecedence Among Attitudes, Injunctive Norms,and College Student Drinking

摘要

Objective: The present study was designed to test forprojection, conformity, or reciprocal associations among attitudes, in-junctive norms, and drinking. Assuming that these constructs are not in-dependent, we proposed three possible trajectories. A conformity modelwould suggest that injunctive norms should temporally precede drinkingor attitudes. Alternatively, a projection model would suggest that at-titudes or alcohol use would precede injunctive norms. Furthermore, byexamining the processes over three time points, the current study wouldalso examine whether both conformity and projection processes were atwork, indicating reciprocal relationships. Method: Participants included249 college students (63.1% female), who participated as a control groupin a larger intervention trial. Structural equation modeling was used toexamine cross-sectional and prospective associations among injunctive norms, attitudes, and drinking across each of the three time points. Re-sults: Findings demonstrated three significant cross-lagged associations.Injunctive norms at Time 1 was significantly associated with drinkingat Time 2 (conformity), and both attitudes and drinking at Time 2 weresignificantly associated with injunctive norms at Time 3 (projection). Thepattern of cross-lagged associations suggested one meaningful indirectpathway, from Time 1 injunctive norms to Time 2 drinking to Time 3 in-junctive norms (reciprocal association). Conclusions: The present studysuggests that both the conformity and the projection processes seem tobe important and evident for college student drinking when consideringinjunctive norms and drinking over time. Interventions that focus onboth conformity and projection may be particularly effective at reducinglonger-term alcohol use.