Norm Qualities and Adolescent Drinking and Drug Behavior: The Effects of Norm Quality and Reference Group on Using and Abusing Alcohol and Marijuana

The effect of normative climate on a person's alcohol and marijuana attitudes and use patterns is investigated. Specifically the norm qualities of significant reference group sources for 7th and 12th grade adolescents (N=3065) are examined to determine their relative impact on both frequency of use and level of abuse of alcohol and marijuana. We found that the norm qualities of all the reference groups are related to use patterns and attitudes in the predicted direction and that norm qualities of friends (compared to parents and religion) is clearly the most predictive variable. However, hypotheses of increased substance abuse under the impact of ascriptive and proscriptive norm qualities are not supported.