Anti-binge drinking campaigns at Iowa State and other universities may be ineffective in preventing alcohol abuse, according to recent studies.

A Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study titled “Perception and Reality: A National Evaluation of Social Norms Marketing Interventions to Reduce College Students’ Heavy Alcohol Use,” released July 24, found social norms campaigns, a popular alcohol abuse prevention program, may not reduce binge drinking and other abusive alcohol drinking behaviors.

The Reality campaign, a social norms program, has been conducted at Iowa State for two years, said Sara Kellogg, program coordinator of substance abuse and violence prevention.

Kellogg said statistics displayed on posters around campus are meant to increase students’ accurate perception of how many students are engaging in abusive alcohol behavior.

“The idea is if people have a more accurate perception, then there might be a reduction in abusive drinking behaviors,” she said.

The Reality posters placed around campus advertise the Web site, www.savp.iastate.

edu/reality/

index.asp. The site provides social norms statistics.

“Sixty percent of ISU students have four or fewer drinks (or none at all) if they party,” according to the Web site.

The study surveyed 98 universities, 37 of which had social norms programs. The researchers found no difference in abusive drinking behavior on campuses with the social norms programs compared to universities without the program.

“Increases in measures of monthly alcohol use and total volume consumed were observed at schools employing social norms programs,” the study stated.

Brian Dunn, program coordinator for the Wellness Center at Thielen Student Health Center, said the fault is not in the theory of social norms campaigns, but in the implementation of it.

“If I was given antibiotics for a sore throat, took a few, then stopped, and someone called me up two weeks later to ask if my sore throat was gone, and I said no, that would not be the fault of the antibiotics, but how I used them,” said Dunn, who is involved in the Reality campaign.

The study did not accurately assess various universities’ implementation of the campaign, Dunn said.

“If a university put up one poster,” he said, “then technically they used the social norms campaign.”

Dunn said studies have been published showing significant reductions through well implemented campaigns.

Kellogg agreed.

“A saturating campaign is needed to make students aware of the messages,” she said.

Other universities have successful programs, including Northern Illinois University, the University of Arizona and the University of Missouri, Columbia, Kellogg said.

Dunn said executing the follow-up component of the campaign is also important.

“[The follow-up] is when we have conversations with the students to discuss the meaning of the messages,” he said.

Dunn and Kellogg said they plan on increasing and focusing on the follow-up component through more conversations with ISU students.

Kellogg said although the overall percentage of abusive alcohol drinking has not changed on the ISU campus, students’ accuracy in perceptions of the percentage of peers engaging in binge drinking has improved.

Kellogg said there are plans to continue implementing the social norms campaign at Iowa State.

“[Abusive alcohol use] is a difficult problem to address,” Kellogg said, “but we can’t just stop trying to change the behavior and give up because some campuses don’t see change.”