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The continuous increase in the elderly population and the need for disability-inclusive public transportation propelled authorities to implement policies to ensure seat availability for vulnerable users. Although most public transportation provides a few priority seats for vulnerable users, the seat availability problem remains due to its small quantity and its usage by normal passengers. To extend the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aims to evaluate how empathic concerns, attitude, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control contribute to the behavioral intentions and actual conducts of yielding seats to vulnerable passengers with university students’ survey responses in China. A partial least square path modeling based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach is employed to test the postulated hypotheses. Findings reveal that empathic concerns significantly promote the yielding seat intention and, thus, the actual conduct through its impacts on attitude, injunctive norms, and perceived behavioral control. This study also aims at capturing sociodemographic heterogeneity through multi-group comparison. It is found that a university student passenger who is older or more educated perceives greater control about seat yielding behavior, positively influencing their intention to yield their seat to a vulnerable person. In addition, less frequent public transportation usage is found to significantly accompany a higher tendency to yield a seat when required. The implications of “soft measures” to support the transportation policy for a sustainable and disability-inclusive public transportation service are discussed accordingly.

One way to persuade people to change their travel behaviours is to execute strategies based on the provision of persuasive normative messages. Several studies have reported that providing information on social norms can lead people to perform different pro-environmental actions, such as energy and water conservation. However, in the transportation field, little research has investigated whether normative messages can be used to encourage people to switch from driving cars to using more sustainable means of transport. The aim of the current paper is to explore whether the intention to use different travel modes can be influenced by a persuasive normative message. In particular, we studied the different impacts of descriptive norm and injunctive norm information alongside more traditional factors on the intention to use a car, public transport, or active mobility. To perform our analysis, we developed three integrated choice and latent variables (ICLV) models using the information collected from an experimental study conducted among a sample of 340 individuals living in the area of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). One of our modelling results indicates that individuals are more likely to use sustainable means of transport if they i) have previously used such means, ii) have a positive attitude toward them, iii) have an interest/involvement in using them, and iv) have been exposed to injunctive norms related to their use. Importantly, the computation of the pseudo-elasticity effect revealed that the impact of past behaviour is much stronger than the impact of normative messages.

Objectives This study addresses a need for quantitative research examining factors supporting the frequent use of homophobic language (e.g., fag) in male team sports which has a range of negative health impacts on gay and bisexual males. Intervention methods are needed to stop this behaviour, but little is known about why this language remains common. Design Cross-Sectional survey. Method Male Rugby Union (n = 97; ages 16 -18 years) and Ice Hockey players (n = 146; ages 16 - 31 years) self-reported their use of homophobic language and completed measures of homophobic attitudes and descriptive and injunctive norms related to language use on their team. Bivariate and multivariate analyses examined factors associated with this behaviour. Results Over half of participants (53.8%) self-reported using homophobic language at least once in the previous two weeks. No relationship was found between homophobic attitudes and language use. In contrast, norm measures had a strong, positive relationship with this behaviour. In multivariate analyses, norms uniquely accounted for almost one-half of the variance in language use. The addition of descriptive norms into the full model led to the largest increase in R2 of .340 (F(1,200) = 130.816, p Conclusions Homophobic language use was related to norms, rather than homophobic attitudes. Interventions targeting changes to these norms could be an effective method to change this behaviour. This finding contributes to a growing body of evidence that norms are associated with a range of negative behaviours by male athletes.

In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we study how the pro-social behavior of inhabitants of an impoverished neighborhood in Namibia is influenced after being informed about the pro-social or egoistic behavior of either a rich or a poor comparison group. We find that the poor behave significantly less prosocial when they learn about the egoistic behavior of the rich. Yet, neither the rich's pro-social behavior nor information on how other poor individuals behaved affects the poor's behavior. This contagion effect is not simply driven by imitating the behavior of the comparison group, or by social identity concerns or peer pressure. Instead, our data suggest that the poor's drop in pro-social behavior is caused by the violation of a social justice norm: The poor expect the rich to be pro-social and they are surprised if they act differently. Learning about the rich's egoism even makes participants’ beliefs about what should be done (injunctive norms) significantly more egoistic. Hence, the self-serving behavior of the rich causes a double damage: Society not only suffers from their low pro-sociality but also from a spread of egoism among other members of society.

Prior research has attempted to gain a better understanding of consumers' formation of purchase decisions to patronise green hotels, thus addressing the need to provide practical relevance to hotel operators; however, results have been inconclusive. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive conceptual model, based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), to explain how consumers' purchase intentions for green hotels are formed. Initially, an exploratory qualitative approach identified consumer green hotel knowledge and a new set of belief items, with salient referents, as significant factors generating the intentions to patronise green hotels. The proposed model merges the TPB with green hotel knowledge and belief constructs in the quantitative phase. The results demonstrate that the new model contributes considerably to improve our comprehension of the intricate process of green hotel consumers' decision-making. Perceived behavioural control appears to be the strongest predictor of green patronage intention. Further, green hotel knowledge and attitudes, as well as subjective injunctive norms were shown to positively influence intention towards green hotel patronage, respectively. These findings reveal significant implications for hotel managers to design effective marketing strategies to enhance the patronage of green hotels.

Purpose: A significant proportion of sport-related concussions goes unreported among adolescents, which can result in irreversible brain damage. It is critical to identify and intervene on factors that significantly impact concussion reporting. Methods: This study tests factors associated with collegiate athletes' intentions to (1) self-report concussion symptoms; (2) report another athlete's concussion symptoms; and (3) encourage others to report. Drawing on the Integrated Behavioral Model, predictors at the athlete level included perceived norms (bystander descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and subjective norms), attitudes (positive and negative expectancies about reporting and playing through a concussion and concussion reporting attitudes), personal agency (self-efficacy to recognize symptoms and communicate), and perceived coach communication. At the team level, coaches' self-reported communication was also included. Athletes (N = 1,858) and coaches (N = 254) at 16 colleges and universities completed Web-based surveys in 2016. Multilevel modeling accounted for the nesting of athletes within athletic team. Results: Bystander descriptive norms, positive reporting expectancies, concussion reporting attitudes, self-efficacy to communicate about a concussion, and athletes' perceptions of their coach's communication were positively associated with all three outcomes. By contrast, subjective norms were only positively associated with intentions to self-report and bystander reporting intentions, negative reporting expectancies were only associated with intentions to self-report, and positive and negative expectancies for playing through a concussion were only associated with intentions to self-report and bystander encouragement. Conclusions: In sum, multiple factors within the Integrated Behavioral Model predict reporting intentions and underscore the complexity of athletes' concussion reporting behaviors and offer guidance for the development of prevention strategies.

Background Interaction within mothers’ social networks can theoretically diffuse messages from interventions and campaigns into norms and practices for infant and young child feeding (IYCF). Objectives We hypothesized that mothers’ social networks, diffusion of information, and social norms differed in intensive [intensive interpersonal counseling (IPC), community mobilization (CM), and mass media (MM)] compared with nonintensive (standard IPC and less-intensive CM and MM) intervention areas, were associated with IYCF practices, and partly explained practice improvement. Methods We conducted household surveys at endline in 2014 and follow-up in 2016 (n = ∼2000 each round). We used multiple regression to test differences and changes in networks, diffusion, and norms within intervention areas. We analyzed paths from intervention exposure to IYCF practices through networks, diffusion, and norms. Results Mothers’ networks were larger in intensive than in nonintensive areas in 2014 and increased in both areas over time [25–38 percentage points (pp)]. The prevalence of receipt of IYCF information was high, with no changes over time in intensive areas but an increase in nonintensive areas (8–16 pp). In both areas, more family members and health workers provided IYCF information over time. Sharing of information increased 17–23 pp in intensive and 11–41 pp in nonintensive areas over time. Perceived descriptive norms improved 8–16 pp in intensive and 17–28 pp in nonintensive areas. Perceived injunctive norms were high in both areas. Breastfeeding practices were associated with networks, diffusion, and norms (OR: 1.6–4.4 times larger comparing highest with lowest quartile). Minimum dietary diversity was associated with larger networks and diffusion (OR: 1.5–2.2) but not with social norms. Indirect paths from intervention exposure to practices explained 34–78% of total effects. Conclusions Diffusion of IYCF information through social networks, reinforced by positive social norms for messages promoted over time, will contribute to positive changes in IYCF practices that may be achieved and sustained through large-scale social and behavior change interventions. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT0274084.

This paper investigates motivational reasons for the low adoption of electric cars (ECs) in Denmark. A theoretical framework was developed based on prior research and reasoned action theories (extended TPB and TAM), and a mixed-method approach consisting of in-depth interviews (n = 7) and a survey of a sample of Danish car owners (N = 238) with an oversampling of EC owners was employed. We find that Danish car owners’ intention to buy an EC increases with their attitude towards ECs and felt moral obligation to buy an eco-friendly car and decreases with increased perceived difficulty in use and feeling uncertain about ECs. Social influence on buying intentions is mediated through the attitude towards ECs and felt moral obligations. Personal experience as an EC owner leads to more favorable beliefs about ECs, which make all motivational factors more favorable. In order to increase demand for ECs, the focus should mainly be on reducing uncertainty and negative expectations. The most effective tool for achieving this is extended trial experience. In addition, communication and other means should be employed to alter the perceived balance between costs and benefits of the EC, including social norms marketing using testimonial advertising and word-of-mouth communication from satisfied EC owners.

Alcohol-related blackouts are a common, yet serious consequence that can result from heavy alcohol intake. This study tested a model examining whether factors identified in related samples (i.e., adolescents residing in the U.K. and U.S. college students) predicted blackouts in community-dwelling U.S. high school youth. Participants from a Northeastern U.S. high school with prior alcohol use (Mage = 16.0 years; 48.2% male, 78.0% White) completed a paper-and-pencil assessment including measures of demographics, alcohol and other substance use, externalizing behaviors, and injunctive norms about risky drinking behaviors. Hierarchical logistic regression examined which factors identified for U.K. residing adolescents (Block 1) replicated in the U.S. sample, and whether factors identified in samples of U.S. college students added additional explained variance (Block 2). Blackouts were reported by 35.6% of students. Regression results indicated that two variables previously identified in adolescents, female gender (OR = 3.26) and increased alcohol use (OR = 1.27) were associated with blackouts. College student risk factors of drinking game (DG) participation and, to a lesser degree injunctive norms for passing out, emerged as additional risk factors (ORs = 2.85 and 1.32, respectively), with the final model explaining 39% of the variance in blackouts. This study advances our understanding of blackouts in younger drinkers and identifies the importance of addressing blackouts within the context of intervention programming that addresses cognitions and high risk drinking practices like DGs.

Recent research has found that dynamic norms—information about collective change in behavior—can promote meaningful personal behavior change, even if that behavior is not currently the norm. Through what psychological processes do dynamic norms operate? We theorized that, when others change, it can lead observers to infer that whatever factors had loomed large as barriers to change do not, in fact, prevent change. If so, dynamic norms may alter diverse salient mechanisms of personal change, and encourage behavior change in diverse contexts. Investigating four domains—smokers' intention to quit, dietary choice, sleep-related behavior, and men's identification as feminist—Experiments 1–4 found that dynamic norms affected three well-established mechanisms of personal behavior change across contexts: the belief that personal change is possible (increased self-efficacy), the belief that change is important to others (injunctive norms), and the belief that change is compatible with one's social identity. In each case, change in the psychological process also statistically mediated change in personal interest and intentions to change. Experiment 5 tested our hypothesis that psychological barriers that loom large would be remedied most. Manipulating the salience of all three barriers within a single context, we found that dynamic norms had a larger impact on salient than less salient barriers. The results suggest that dynamic norms can help resolve diverse psychological barriers to encourage personal change, especially salient barriers. They may thus be a particularly robust source of social influence across contexts.

Two experiments investigated how and why social media metrics affect perceived media influence and behavioral intentions. In the first experiment (N = 241), those who viewed a news article about an environmental risk with social media metrics (vs. news article only) reported greater media influence on the self than others (First-person perception, FPP), and such effect was more prominent among those high in the need to belong. Increased FPP, in turn, led to greater intentions to combat the risk. The second experiment (N = 210) found that exposure to a news article about a health risk with high (vs. low) social media metrics led the readers to perceive greater injunctive norms and thereby report greater FPP. Such effect was more prominent among those high in the need for closure. Increased FPP induced stronger behavioral intentions to prevent the risk as well as to share the news article via social media.

The use of corporal punishment (CP) is a strong risk factor for many poor outcomes for children including child maltreatment. The use of CP occurs within social contexts which are important to understand. Although it is known that perceived social norms regarding CP are related to its use, the specific role that a mother’s primary support person plays in influencing attitudes toward and use of CP remains unknown. The current study assessed linkages between maternal perceived social support in parenting and perceived injunctive norms of CP from her primary source of support, with maternal attitudes toward and use of CP. Survey data were collected from female primary caregivers (N = 436) of children age 2 to 7 years (mean age = 3.7) enrolled in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinics in Southeastern Louisiana. Most frequently, the biological father of the child (37.9%) and the maternal grandmother of the child (24.2%) were identified as the participant’s primary source of social support in parenting. Perceived injunctive norms of this support person toward CP use were significantly and positively associated with attitudes toward, AOR = 5.97, 95% CI = [4.04, 8.82], and use of CP, AOR = 3.77, 95% CI = [2.55, 5.59]. However, perceived social support was not associated with these outcomes and also did not moderate these associations. Findings suggest that efforts to reduce maternal risk for child physical abuse and use of CP must include the mother’s primary source of social support if they are to be successful.

Objectives To examine whether self-reported exposure to Testing Makes Us Stronger™ (TMUS), an HIV testing health communication campaign for black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (BMSM), was associated with key intermediate outcomes targeted by the campaign’s messages. Methods Data from sexually active, HIV-negative or unknown status BMSM aged 18–44 (N = 590) were collected through an anonymous Web-based survey that measured sociodemographics, campaign exposure, attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, self-efficacy, and HIV testing intentions, among other variables. The association between exposure to TMUS and intermediate outcomes was evaluated using propensity-score weight adjusted correlations. Results Exposure to TMUS was high (43%) among the priority audience. Exposure to the campaign was correlated with 8 of 11 intermediate outcomes measured, including key attitudinal beliefs about the accessibility of the test and benefits to the individual, injunctive norms, self-efficacy, and HIV testing intention. Conclusion Adhering to principles of effective campaign design, such as using theory as a conceptual foundation for message design, can increase a campaign’s chances for successfully meeting its goals and objectives. Practice Implications Findings from this study can be used to inform message design for other communication efforts to promote HIV testing among BMSM.

How do wealth managers understand and comply with the social norms embedded in banks’ codes of conduct (CoC) and how do they cope with ethical dilemmas? Do they have a tendency post Global Financial Crisis to prioritize banks’ financial security over clients’ interests? To answer these and related questions, we conduct a non- incentivized online survey with wealth management employees of the Swiss legal entity of a large multinational bank. We propose a method to estimate the comprehension and the level of expected adherence to the CoC principles that we test with our sample. We further show that framing questions under the label “Financial Security” increased response accuracy and that employees’ intrinsic moral values helped guide their decision-making towards integrity in ethical dilemmas. Thus, besides validating a method for testing the level of CoC comprehension and the expected adherence to its principles, our study is among the first to show that in the wealth management business, moral values and social injunctive norms defined in the bank’s CoC reinforce each other

Accounting standards require companies to recognize a liability when a pattern of past practice creates a constructive obligation. We conduct two experiments to test whether financial statement users believe that a company’s past practice gives rise to obligations. Consistent with theory on descriptive and injunctive norms, and using both frequentist and Bayesian hypothesis testing, we find that users rely on past practice to predict a company’s future activities, but they do not believe past practice alone is sufficient to create obligations. However, we find that users do believe past practice can play a role in creating obligations, for example when others rely on the past practice. Overall, users’ beliefs about the role of past practice in creating obligations are consistent with applying a legal standard to identify obligations. Our results suggest that additional guidance is necessary to help financial statement users understand how and when obligations arise from past practice.

Theories of norm-dependent utility assume commonly known injunctive norms that rank feasible outcomes by their normative valence, but as yet normative valences have only been measured experimentally. We provide a theoretical foundation that assigns a normative valence to each outcome based on players' dissatisfactions, which depend on the higher utilities that they could have received at other outcomes. The normatively best outcome is the one that minimizes aggregated dissatisfaction. Our model imposes structure on theories of norm-driven behavior, rendering them precise and falsifiable. We consider a variety of illustrative applications, highlighting the intuition and explanatory power of the model.

We report three pre-registered studies (total N=1,799) exploring the effect of nudging personal and injunctive norms in decisions that involve a trade-off between objective equality and efficiency. The first two studies provide evidence that: (i) nudging the personal norm has a similar effect to nudging the injunctive norm; (ii) when both norms are nudged towards the same direction, there is no additive effect; (iii) when the personal norm and the injunctive norm are nudged towards opposite directions, some people tend to follow the personal norm, while others tend to follow the injunctive norm. Study 3 tests whether these two classes of people, those who tend to follow the injunctive norm and those who tend to follow the personal norm, map onto the two sub-dimensions of Aquino and Reed’s moral identity scale. We find partial evidence of this hypothesis: people higher in the symbolization dimension are weakly more likely to follow the injunctive norm; however, we do not find any evidence that people higher in the internalization dimension are more likely to follow the personal norm.

The literature provides evidence on the separate roles of injunctive and descriptive norms in explaining corporate financial reporting, ignoring that descriptive norms are likely endogenous and partly explained by injunctive norms. We jointly analyze the direct and indirect effects of religious social norms (an injunctive norm) via local crime rates (a descriptive norm) on financial reporting quality. We find that religious social norms relate negatively to corporate earnings management and tax avoidance. We also show that this association is partially explained by crime rates in the firm’s geographical environment, underlining the indirect relation between religious social norms and financial reporting quality. Overall, the study highlights the importance of considering the interrelations between injunctive and descriptive norms when analyzing the effect of norms on corporate decision-making.

An economic experiment is used to investigate the presence and properties of injunctive norms regarding the division of a surplus between those who contributed to its creation. The experiment involves asking subjects what outcome should (as opposed to would) occur in a coordination game in which players’ strategies are the two distributional rules: (i) a rule based on dividing the surplus according to contribution to its creation or (ii) equal division of the surplus. We find that there is a difference in the injunctive norm's properties when the contributions underlying the coordination game are a result of effort as opposed to luck. When contributions are due to effort both the difference and sum of endowments influences the injunctive norm. This is not the case when contributions are determined by luck.

Unsafe use of fire by young people, in particular university students, is not well understood. This research examined whether perceived descriptive and injunctive norms influence university students' unsafe fire behavior. An online survey was completed by 804 students attending two New Zealand universities (aged M = 19.4 years, SD = 1.5), to investigate how they perceived their peers' unsafe fire behavior and how participants believed their peers perceived their own (i.e., the participants') unsafe fire behavior. Findings indicated that university students generally perceived that their peers played with fire more frequently than they did themselves, and that peers were more accepting of others' unsafe fire behavior than they were themselves. Further, injunctive norms were predictive of participants’ engagement in unsafe fire behavior. Overall, these results suggest that university students adjust their behavior according to perceptions of peer norms. Such findings have potential implications for future research, including the development of targeted interventions for this group of young adults.

Texting while driving is prevalent among college-aged students, despite distracted driving laws. Social Norms Theory suggests that individuals are influenced by perceptions of how their social groups act. Proximal sources of social influence, such as significant others (S.O.) may be more likely to effect college-aged students than distal sources (e.g. people they know in their friend or peer group, but don’t identify as people with whom they have a particularly important or meaningful relationship). We investigated whether perceived S.O. texting behaviors mediated the relationship between perceived risk of texting while driving and reported texting while driving among college-aged students. A sample of 835 undergraduate licensed drivers were surveyed about the influence of perceived risk of texting while driving on texting while driving within the past month. We examined whether seeing one’s S.O. (versus their friends) texting while driving mediated this effect. Two groups of drivers were considered: low-risk drivers, who never received a traffic citation nor got into a crash, and high-risk drivers, who had ever received traffic citation and been involved in a crash. We also examined gender differences within low-risk and high-risk groups. A series of logistic regressions, adjusting for gender and ethnicity, were conducted along with Sobel Tests to evaluate the significance of the mediation effect. Results showed that perceptions of the S.O. partially mediated the relationship between perceived risk of texting while driving and texting while driving. This effect was also observed for low risk (female only) and high risk drivers. There was no mediation effect for distal sources. These findings bolster the limited research on the importance of proximal sources of social influence and suggest prevention efforts should focus on proximal social networks of college-aged students as opposed to distal social influences when targeting young adults distracted driving.

This project explores the relationship between structural level factors associated with community traffic safety culture toward alcohol and alcohol related fatal crashes in the United States from 1993 to 2015. Multilevel growth curve models were estimated to explore these relationships within longitudinal data. As hypothesized, increases in factors associated with anti-alcohol community norms, values, attitudes, and beliefs were related to decreases in alcohol related crashes at the county level. Conversely, measures associated with pro-alcohol factors were related to increased alcohol related crashes. These findings are consistent with traffic safety culture, social norms theory, and the Positive Community Framework (PCF).

Introduction Given the range of emergencies that beset postsecondary institutions, university administrators must take a multimodal approach to prepare campus stakeholders for safety threats. One such strategy is emergency preparedness communication. Methods In the present investigation, we tested the efficacy of a professionally produced video that uses the federally endorsed slogan, Run-Hide-Fight(r). Undergraduate students participated in a quasi-experiment with a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest control group design. Results Using the theory of planned behavior as our guiding framework, we found that video exposure increased attitudes, perceived norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, as well as knowledge of recommended behavioral responses. Favorable attitudes and injunctive norms positively predicted intentions at the initial and delayed posttests. Importantly, the video's effects on most of the outcomes endured two weeks after video exposure. Conclusions A brief emergency preparedness video using the Run-Hide-Fight(r) theme can have immediate and lingering effects on psychosocial predictors of appropriate emergency response behaviors. Practical Applications Administrators at higher education institutions should consider showing emergency preparedness messages to increase the likelihood that stakeholders will take appropriate action in case of a campus threat. In particular, these messages should aim to promote favorable attitudes toward appropriate response behaviors and instill beliefs that appropriate responses ought to be performed.

Introduction Smoking tobacco via a waterpipe (WP) is on the rise, particularly among college students. One reason for this may be normative perceptions of WP tobacco smoking (WTS) among this population. The current study examined the perceived and actual descriptive and injunctive norms of WTS among a college student sample. Methods Participants were 894 college students enrolled at a large, Midwestern university. Participants completed measures of WTS frequency and quantity and perceived/actual descriptive and injunctive norms of WTS. Results Over one-third of the sample reported ever trying WTS, while only 2% reported current (past month) use. When comparing ever and never WP smokers, ever smokers reported greater perceived peer approval of WTS. Both males and females overestimated WTS frequency of same-sex students at their university. Discussion The current study is one of the first to investigate descriptive and injunctive norms of WTS among college students. Students who report WTS are more likely to overestimate descriptive norms of WTS among their peers, suggesting corrective normative feedback regarding actual use by peers may be an important target for WTS intervention among college students. Future research should investigate the temporal association between normative perceptions and WTS behaviors among college students.

Introduction College students report high rates of binge drinking yet they reliably endorse elevated perceptions of drinking by their peers. However, the drinking norms literature offers little insight into how college students think about behaviors exhibited while intoxicated. This study aims to determine (a) if the predicted self-other differences (SODs) are seen among college students with respect to approval of intoxicated behaviors and (b) whether gender and race/ethnicity moderate these differences. We hypothesized that students would perceive others as more approving of intoxicated behaviors than they were themselves, resulting in significant SODs. We also predicted that women would have larger SODs relative to their male counterparts, and minority students would have larger SODs relative to their white counterparts. Methods Participants ( N = 233, 63% female) were recruited from an introductory psychology course at a large public northeastern university. They completed online surveys that assessed demographics, and responded to a list of intoxicated behaviors with ratings of personal approval and perceived peer approval. Results Perceived others' approval ratings exceeded personal approval ratings for 42 of the 44 different intoxicated behaviors. Women had significantly higher SODs relative to men and differed on personal approval. Non-white students had significantly higher SODs relative to white students, and differed both on personal approval and perceptions of others' approval of intoxicated behaviors. Conclusions Consistent SODs were observed in the approval of intoxicated behaviors. These findings may help to inform normative feedback interventions by revealing the potential for normative pressure, especially for non-white students.

Background Young men living in Dar es Salaam's informal settlements face environmental stressors that may expose them to multiple determinants of HIV risk including poor mental health and risky sexual behavior norms. We aimed to understand how these co-occurring risk factors not only independently affect men's condom use and sexual partner concurrency, but also how they interact to shape these risk behaviors. Methods Participants in the study were male members of 59 social groups known as “camps” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We assessed moderation by changes in peer norms of the association between changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression and sexual risk behaviors (condom use and sexual partner concurrency) among 1113 sexually active men. Participants nominated their three closest friends in their camp and reported their perceptions of these friends' behaviors, attitudes, and encouragement of condom use and concurrency. Anxiety and depression were measured using the HSCL-25, and condom use and sexual partner concurrency were assessed through self-report. Results Perceptions of decreasing condom use among friends (descriptive norms) and decreasing encouragement of condom use were associated with lower levels of condom use. Perceptions of increasing partner concurrency and acceptability of partner concurrency (injunctive norms) among friends were associated with higher odds of concurrency. Changes in perceived condom use norms (descriptive norms and encouragement) interacted with changes in anxiety symptoms in association with condom use such that the negative relationship was amplified by norms less favorable for condom use, and attenuated by more favorable norms for condom use. Conclusions These results provide novel evidence of the interacting effects of poor mental health and risky sexual behavior norms among a hard to reach population of marginalized young men in Dar es Salaam. Our findings provide important information for future norms-based and mental health promotion interventions targeting HIV prevention in this key population.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Perceived social norms refer to beliefs that people hold about what other people do (descriptive norms) and approve of (injunctive norms), and are associated with food intake. However, less is known about whether perceived social norms are associated with meat and plant-based meal intake. Using a cross-sectional survey design 136 participants (aged 19-66 years, mean age=39.63, SD=12.85 years, mean BMI=25.77, SD=5.30, 80.9% female, 77.9% omnivores, 22.1% flexitarians) answered questions about how frequently they consumed meat and plant-based meals, and how frequently they perceived people in their social environment to consume (perceived descriptive norms), and approve of consuming (perceived injunctive norms) meat and plant-based meals. Perceived descriptive and injunctive norms were positively associated with participants’ frequency of meat intake: participants ate meat more frequently when they perceived their significant other to frequently eat meat (descriptive norm), and when they perceived their significant other and friends to approve of (injunctive norm) frequently eating meat. Perceived descriptive norms were positively associated, but injunctive norms were negatively associated with participants’ frequency of plant-based meal intake: participants ate plant-based meals more frequently when they perceived their extended family, friends, and significant other to frequently eat plant-based meals. However, participants ate plant-based meals more frequently when they perceived their extended family to approve of less frequent plant-based meal intake. These results suggest that different social groups may be important for meat and plant-based meal intake, with significant others and friends appearing to be important reference points for both food types. Further research examining the contexts in which the different social groups influence eating behaviour would be of value.

We examine the impact of religiosity on earnings quality, utilising a global sample of 1283 listed banks headquartered in 39 countries and covering the period 2002–2018. Using instrumental variables two-stage least squares regressions, we demonstrate that religiosity has a significant positive impact on banks’ earnings quality. We further show that the impact of religiosity becomes more pronounced among banks headquartered in countries where religion is an important element of national identity and in countries with weak legal protection. We show that the effects of religiosity are more intense during the global financial crisis period. Overall, these findings support the notion that high religiosity tends to reduce unethical activities by managers and can function as an alternative control mechanism for minimising agency costs. Our empirical investigation is robust to alternative model and sample specifications.

Developing and maintaining efficient energy-saving behaviors in the workplace is an important factor in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Building on integrated theories, including a recently developed theoretical approach to studying the dynamics of social norms and decision-making, the theory of planned behavior, the norm activation model, and the motivation-opportunity-ability model, this study analyzes the influence of normative values, office design, and perceived benefits and costs on energy-saving behaviors in different office settings. Based on a survey from 555 U.S. employees, this study found that occupants in single-person offices were influenced by a combination of descriptive, injunctive, and personal norms, while those in shared offices tended to align their actions with injunctive norms and ascription of responsibility. Descriptive norms had a stronger effect on energy-saving behaviors in single-person offices than in shared offices. Ascription of responsibility, however, had a stronger effect on energy-saving behaviors in shared offices. The perceived ease of access to building control features significantly influenced energy-saving behaviors of shared-office occupants only. Time availability had no significant effect on energy-saving behaviors of occupants in both single-person and shared offices. This study provides policy recommendations for building architects, engineers, managers, and policymakers to enhance energy-saving behaviors.

Through meat-eating choices, people are able to express their national social identification and adhere to broader cultural norms. The current research examines the relationship between people's perceptions of national descriptive and injunctive meat-eating norms and their national social identification, on the one hand, and their attitudes toward meat-eating and their intentions to eat meat, on the other hand. In a sample that includes American, British, and Australian participants, we observe that: (1) favorable attitudes toward meat eating are positively predicted by national injunctive but not descriptive norms, and (2) intentions to eat meat are positively predicted by national descriptive but not injunctive norms. National social identification positively predicts both attitudes and intentions. Intentions to eat meat were also predicted by a three-way interaction between descriptive and injunctive norms, and social identification. Alignment of relatively high descriptive and injunctive meat-eating norms predicted meat-eating intentions more than alignment of relatively low descriptive and injunctive norms. With normative misalignment, however, people began to rely on their national social identifications as a basis for meat-eating intentions. The data are discussed with reference to the impact of social factors in influencing meat consumption. Moreover, we consider the potential for national social identification to have a normative component of meat consumption independent of descriptive and injunctive norms. This work advances our understanding of meat consumption by revealing national-level normative and identity processes beyond more focused identities of, for example, an environmentalist, a health conscious person, or an animal rights activist.

In a series of studies, we ask whether and to what extent the base rate of a behavior influences associated moral judgment. Previous research aimed at answering different but related questions are suggestive of such an effect. However, these other investigations involve injunctive norms and special reference groups which are inappropriate for an examination of the effects of base rates per se. Across five studies, we find that, when properly isolated, base rates do indeed influence moral judgment, but they do so with only very small effect sizes. In another study, we test the possibility that the very limited influence of base rates on moral judgment could be a result of a general phenomenon such as the fundamental attribution error, which is not specific to moral judgment. The results suggest that moral judgment may be uniquely resilient to the influence of base rates. In a final pair of studies, we test secondary hypotheses that injunctive norms and special reference groups would inflate any influence on moral judgments relative to base rates alone. The results supported those hypotheses.

Rationale The Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) developed out of the Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior but has not yet been widely applied to understanding health behaviors. The present research employed the RAA in a prospective design to test predictions of intention and action for groups of protection and risk behaviors separately in the same sample. Objective To test the RAA for health protection and risk behaviors. Method Measures of RAA components plus past behavior were taken in relation to eight protection and six risk behaviors in 385 adults. Self-reported behavior was assessed one month later. Results Multi-level modelling showed instrumental attitude, experiential attitude, descriptive norms, capacity and past behavior were significant positive predictors of intentions to engage in protection or risk behaviors. Injunctive norms were only significant predictors of intention in protection behaviors. Autonomy was a significant positive predictor of intentions in protection behaviors and a negative predictor in risk behaviors (the latter relationship became non-significant when controlling for past behavior). Multi-level modelling showed that intention, capacity, and past behavior were significant positive predictors of action for both protection and risk behaviors. Experiential attitude and descriptive norm were additional significant positive predictors of risk behaviors. Conclusion The RAA has utility in predicting both protection and risk health behaviors although the power of predictors may vary across these types of health behavior.

Background American Indian (AI) youth are at increased risk for marijuana use with marijuana use rates on or near reservations 1.6–4.8 times higher compared to non-AI youth in the same regions (Stanley et al., 2014). One outcome of the changing social and legal acceptance of marijuana is a decrease in perceived risk among adolescents. It is unknown whether these changes in perceptions of marijuana-related harm will presage higher rates of use among AI youth. Perceptions of others use (i.e., descriptive norms) and approval (i.e., injunctive norms) are consistent predictors of marijuana use and consequences. Moreover, large scale surveys have shown that gender is an important moderator of the relationship between norms and marijuana use in AI samples. Method The current study is a large epidemiologic study of 7th-12th grade self-identified American Indian students (N = 3050). We examined the direct relations between descriptive and injunctive norms and marijuana use/consequences among AI youth, as well as the mediating role of perceived harm and the moderating role of gender. Results Results of a multi-group path analysis revealed a similar pattern of findings for males and females. In addition, there were direct effects for descriptive but not injunctive norms on marijuana use/consequences, and the sequential pathway from norms to use/consequences via perceived harm held. Discussion Findings suggest that normative perceptions and perceived harm are antecedents of marijuana use/consequences and are prime targets for large scale interventions on AI reservations.

Research indicates that adolescents who experience mental health difficulties are frequently stigmatised by their peers. Stigmatisation is associated with a host of negative social and psychological effects, which impacts a young person's well-being. As a result, the development of effective anti-stigma strategies is considered a major research priority. However, in order to design effective stigma reduction strategies, researchers must be informed by an understanding of the factors that influence the expression of stigma. Although evidence suggests that empathy and social norms have a considerable effect on adolescents’ social attitudes and behaviours, research has yet to examine whether these factors significantly influence adolescents’ responses toward their peers with mental health difficulties. Thus, this study aims to examine whether empathy (cognitive and affective) and peer norms (descriptive and injunctive) influence adolescents’ implicit and explicit stigmatising responses toward peers with mental health problems. A total of 570 (221 male and 348 female; 1 non-specified) adolescents, aged between 13 and 18 years (M = 15.51, SD = 1.13), participated in this research. Adolescents read vignettes describing male/female depressed and ‘typically developing’ peers. Adolescents answered questions assessing their stigmatising responses toward each target, as well as their empathic responding and normative perceptions. A sub-sample of participants (n=173) also completed an IAT assessing their implicit stigmatising responses. Results showed that descriptive norms exerted a substantial effect on adolescents’ explicit responses. Cognitive empathy, affective empathy and injunctive norms exerted more limited effects on explicit responses. No significant effects were observed for implicit stigma. Overall, empathy was found to have limited effects on adolescents’ explicit and implicit stigmatising responses, which may suggest that other contextual variables moderate the effects of dispositional empathy on responding. In conclusion, these findings suggest that tackling the perception of negative descriptive norms may be an effective strategy for reducing explicit stigmatising responses among adolescents.

Injunctive safety norms (ISNs) refer to perceptions of others' expectations of one's safety-related conduct. Drawing on a sample of Canadian young workers (n=11,986;M age=17.90years; 55% males), we study the relationships among four sources of non-work-related (i.e., parents, siblings, friends, teachers), two sources of work-related (i.e., supervisors, co-workers) ISNs, young workers' self-reported work-related risk-taking behaviors, and workplace injuries. Structural equation modeling suggests that ISNs from parents, supervisors, and co-workers were related to less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors, and with fewer workplace injuries via less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors. In addition, ISNs from supervisors were directly associated with fewer workplace injuries. In contrast, ISNs from teachers and siblings were not associated with work-related risk-taking behaviors, but ISNs from siblings were associated with fewer work injuries. Finally, ISNs from friends were associated with more frequent work-related risk-taking and more frequent work injuries via more frequent work-related risk-taking. This study draws attention to the relative roles of non-work sources of social influence and provides some evidence of how ISNs might be related to young workers' work-related risk-taking behaviors and their workplace injuries. It also contributes to practice by suggesting specific interventions that parents, supervisors, and co-workers could undertake to reduce young workers' work-related risk-taking and workplace injuries, namely encouraging youth to be safe at work.

Objective College students tend to overestimate how much their peers drink, which is associated with higher personal alcohol use. However, research has not yet examined if this phenomenon holds true among Native American (NA) college students. This study examined associations between descriptive norms and alcohol use/consequences in a sample of NA and non-Hispanic White (NHW) college students. Method NA (n = 147, 78.6% female) and NHW (n = 246, 67.8% female) undergraduates completed an online survey. Results NAs NHWs showed similar descriptive norms such that the “typical college student,” “typical NA student,” and “typical NHW student” were perceived to drink more than “best friends.” “Best friends” descriptive norms (i.e., estimations of how many drinks per week were consumed by participants' best friends) were the most robust predictors of alcohol use/consequences. Effect size estimates of the associations between drinking norms and participants' alcohol use were consistently positive and ranged from r = 0.25 to r = 0.51 across the four reference groups. Negative binomial hurdle models revealed that all descriptive norms tended to predict drinking, and “best friends” drinking norms predicted alcohol consequences. Apart from one interaction effect, likely due to familywise error rate, these associations were not qualified by interactions with racial/ethnic group. Conclusions We found similar patterns between NAs and NHWs both in the pattern of descriptive norms across reference groups and in the strength of associations between descriptive norms and alcohol use/consequences. Although these results suggest that descriptive norms operate similarly among NAs as other college students, additional research is needed to identify whether other norms (e.g., injunctive norms) operate similarly across NA and NHW students.

Purpose Adolescents' increased use of social networking sites (SNS) coincides with a developmental period of heightened risk for alcohol use initiation. However, little is known regarding associations between adolescents' SNS use and drinking initiation nor the mechanisms of this association. This study examined longitudinal associations among adolescents' exposure to friends' alcohol-related SNS postings, alcohol-favorable peer injunctive norms, and initiation of drinking behaviors. Methods Participants were 658 high-school students who reported on posting of alcohol-related SNS content by self and friends, alcohol-related injunctive norms, and other developmental risk factors for alcohol use at two time points, 1 year apart. Participants also reported on initiation of three drinking behaviors: consuming a full drink, becoming drunk, and heavy episodic drinking (three or more drinks per occasion). Probit regression analyses were used to predict initiation of drinking behaviors from exposure to alcohol-related SNS content. Path analyses examined mediation of this association by peer injunctive norms. Results Exposure to friends' alcohol-related SNS content predicted adolescents' initiation of drinking and heavy episodic drinking 1 year later, controlling for demographic and known developmental risk factors for alcohol use (i.e., parental monitoring and peer orientation). In addition, alcohol-favorable peer injunctive norms statistically mediated the relationship between alcohol-related SNS exposure and each drinking milestone. Conclusions Results suggest that social media plays a unique role in contributing to peer influence processes surrounding alcohol use and highlight the need for future investigative and preventive efforts to account for adolescents' changing social environments.

This study aims to explore factors associated with cyberbullying perpetration on social media among children and adolescents in Singapore, based on the theory of reasoned action and the parental mediation theory. More specifically, the relationships between attitude, subjective norms, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and active and restrictive parental mediation with cyberbullying perpetration on social media were investigated. Moreover, we examined the moderating effect of age on the relationship between parental mediation and cyberbullying perpetration. Multi-stage cluster sampling was used, in which 635 upper primary school children (i.e., Primary 4 to 6 students) and 789 secondary school adolescents participated in our survey. The results revealed that attitude, subjective norms, and the two parental mediations active and restrictive mediation were negatively associated with cyberbullying perpetration on social media. Age was a significant moderator of both parental mediation strategies and cyberbullying perpetration. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. We examine cyberbullying perpetration on social media among children & adolescents.A large-scale nationally representative survey (N=1424) was conducted in Singapore.Attitude and subjective norms predicted cyberbullying perpetration on social media.Active and restrictive parental mediation predicted cyberbullying perpetration.Age moderated the effects of parental mediation on cyberbullying perpetration.

This work aims to measure the effect of both informational and normative conformity in the preference for electric vehicles (EV) versus internal combustion vehicles (ICV). Differently from most of the literature in the field, measures of conformity are included as attributes inside a stated choice (SC) experiment, allowing a direct comparison of their effects with typical effects such as purchase price, range and fuel/electricity price. To measure informational conformity we set up an experiment where the same individual answers the choice tasks before and after he/she has received social information on three specific EV features: range, parking spaces reserved for EV and the need to change activity schedule if using an EV. Normative conformity was measured in terms of social adoption, social-signalling and injunctive norms. Social adoption and a pair of eyes to detect social-signalling were included as attributes in the stated choice experiment, while injunctive norms were measured using psychometric indicators. The SC experiment was also aimed at testing the effect of parking policy on the choice of EV. Hybrid choice models were estimated and a resampling technique was used to test the model sensitivity to the sample gathered. All social conformity effects tested are highly significant and their impact in the overall utility can be high enough to compensate also quite low driving range for EV (e.g. around 130 km) or significant differences in purchase price (for example 1/3 higher for EV than ICV). We also found that parking price and the number of slots reserved for EV can be effective in boosting the demand for EV, but a combination of parking policies is needed because each measure alone does not have a sufficient impact to compensate major differences in the characteristics between EV and ICV.

Peers have a major influence on youth during adolescence, and perceptions about peer alcohol use (perceived norms) are often associated with personal drinking behavior among youth. Most of the research on perceived norms among adolescents focuses on perceived descriptive norms only, or perceptions about peers’ behavior, and correcting these perceptions are a major focus of many prevention programs with adolescents. In contrast, perceived injunctive norms, which are personal perceptions about peers’ attitudes regarding the acceptability of behaviors, have been minimally examined in the adolescent drinking literature. Yet correcting perceptions about these perceived peer attitudes may be an important component to include in prevention programs with youth. Using a sample of 2,493 high school-aged youth (mean age = 17.3), we assessed drinking behavior (past year use; past month frequency, quantity, and peak drinks), drinking consequences, and perceived descriptive and injunctive norms to examine the relationships of perceived injunctive and descriptive norms on adolescent drinking behavior. Findings indicated that although perceived descriptive norms were associated with some drinking outcomes (past year use; past month frequency; past month quantity; peak drinks), perceived injunctive norms were associated with all drinking outcomes, including outcomes of consequences, even after controlling for perceived descriptive norms. Findings suggest that consideration of perceived injunctive norms may be important in models of adolescent drinking. Prevention programs that do not include injunctive norms feedback may miss an important opportunity to enhance effectiveness of such prevention programs targeting adolescent alcohol use.

Background Nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) among youth and young adults is being increasingly recognized as a significant public health problem. Homeless youth in particular are more likely to engage in NMUPD compared to housed youth. Studies suggest that network norms are strongly associated with a range of substance use behaviors. However, evidence regarding the association between network norms and NMUPD is scarce. We sought to understand whether social network norms of NMUPD are associated with engagement in NMUPD among homeless youth. Methods 1046 homeless youth were recruited from three drop-in centers in Los Angeles, CA and were interviewed regarding their individual and social network characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to evaluate the significance of associations between social norms (descriptive and injunctive) and self-reported NMUPD. Results Approximately 25% of youth reported past 30-day NMUPD. However, more youth (32.28%) of youth believed that their network members engage in NMUPD, perhaps suggesting some pluralistic ignorance bias. Both descriptive and injunctive norms were associated with self-reported NMUPD among homeless youth. However, these varied by network type, with presence of NMUPD engaged street-based and home-based peers (descriptive norm) increasing the likelihood of NMUPD, while objections from family-members (injunctive norm) decreasing that likelihood. Conclusions Our findings suggest that, like other substance use behaviors, NMUPD is also influenced by youths' perceptions of the behaviors of their social network members. Therefore, prevention and interventions programs designed to influence NMUPD might benefit from taking a social network norms approach.

Objectives The objectives of the paper are: • To present the main definitions and issues about road safety education (RSE) such as evaluation, historical evolutions and integration of RSE in Safe Systems Approaches. • To present examples of good practices in RSE. Method Seminal papers, collaborative reports from traffic safety research institutes and books from experts have been used as materials. Very diverse fields of application are presented such as: the importance of emotional experience in interaction with traffic experiences; the efficiency of e-learning; the efficiency of simulators to improve hazard perception skills and calibration of one’s driving competencies; the efficiency of social norms marketing at changing behaviors by correcting normative misperceptions; the usefulness of parents-based interventions to improve parental supervision; and finally the importance of multi-components programs due to their synergies. Conclusions Scientific evidence collected in this paper shows that RSE may have some positive effects if good practices are adopted, if it is part of a lifelong learning process and if transmits not only knowledge but also “life-skills” (or psycho-social competences). Implications for practice From each example, we will see the implications of the results for the implementation of RSE.

Background To build on prior laboratory studies related to injunctive food norms, the goal of this field-experiment was to explore factors that influence patrons' food choices in a university cafeteria. Objective To evaluate the influence of food messaging (ie, injunctive norms) at a designated food station in the cafeteria, with the goal of encouraging healthier food choices and exploring factors that influence patrons’ food choices. Study Design, Setting, Participants We employed an interrupted time series, quasi-experimental design. During the 10-day baseline phase, patrons were asked to complete a survey. During the intervention, 3 copies of healthy injunctive signs were placed in the cafeteria and patrons were asked about the signage. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Within each survey, we collected the patrons’ food choices, noting how many and what type of side items each purchased to compare the proportion of patrons purchasing at least 1 healthy side item using a 2-sample proportion test. During the intervention, we asked patrons if they saw the sign and what they remembered. Several items from a modified version of The Eating Motivation Survey was also asked to determine what influenced patrons’ food choices. Results The 2-sample proportion test for 200 baseline participants and 170 intervention participants (z = −1.55, P = .12) did not indicate a difference in the proportion of patrons purchasing at least 1 healthy side-item during the experimental weeks. Approximately 40% of the patrons during intervention week remembered seeing the signage and 24% recalled some detail of the signage. Conclusions This study sought to determine if employing social norms through food signage influenced patron's side-item choice. While the results did not show a significant difference in choosing healthier items, the patrons' recall of the sign shows promise for how colleges can implement and encourage healthier eating habits on their campuses.

Descriptive and injunctive norms are traditionally assessed using different metrics. Following an innovation in the alcohol field, we examined a novel measure of perceived descriptive and injunctive marijuana norms (i.e., Marijuana Norms Grid, MNG) to characterize how these normative perceptions relate to one’s own use of marijuana. The present study addressed three research questions: (1) Do college students overestimate descriptive/injunctive marijuana norms of typical college students and close friends? (2) Are descriptive/injunctive norms uniquely related to marijuana frequency and quantity? (3) Are injunctive norms related to marijuana frequency and quantity above and beyond how injunctive norms are traditionally assessed? College students (n = 7000) were recruited from 9 universities throughout the US, including 2077 past month marijuana users. Participants completed an online, cross-sectional survey that included measures assessing marijuana use, marijuana consequences, and descriptive and injunctive marijuana norms using traditional and novel assessments, among other assessments. The results revealed robust self-other discrepancies using the MNG such that participants overestimated how often and how much college students use marijuana. We also found that both descriptive and injunctive norms related uniquely to one’s own marijuana use. The MNG injunctive norms explained about 19% of additional variability in marijuana outcomes beyond injunctive norms assessed using the traditional method. The findings of the present study support the utility of the novel assessment of injunctive marijuana norms. Implications for norms-based interventions are discussed.

Water availability and conservation are among today’s top global issues, and urban irrigated landscapes have a pronounced role to play in developing solutions to water scarcity problems. Innovative approaches are needed to promote water conservation outside of the home, and social norms comprise one such type of strategy that can accelerate the use of landscape water conservation technologies and practices. However, social expectations (injunctive norms) and others’ engagement in a behavior (descriptive norms) are often not fully considered, and these normative influences are often not measured beyond the traditional ‘important others’. A national survey was used to gather quantitative data from 2601 individuals across the United States. Framed by the Reasoned Action Approach, data were collected on participants’ attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and injunctive and descriptive norms relative to the traditional important others along with neighbors, other state residents, and other national residents. In the absence of the additional three groups, both descriptive and injunctive norms predicted water conservation intentions in a multiple regression model. When the additional referents were added, neighborhood and state descriptive norms and neighborhood injunctive norms overpowered injunctive norms drawn from important others. The perceived actions of important others (descriptive norms) remained the most powerful predictor. Normative beliefs specific to certain referent groups explain additional variation in behavioral intent beyond that of norms associated with important others. The findings revealed neighbors’ approval of conservation practices may be even more important than approval from those people an individual defines as important. Altogether, an understanding of perceptions of whether important others, neighbors, and people across the state conserve (descriptive norms) as well as what their neighbors approve of (injunctive norms) explains United States residents’ intent to engage in water conservation.

BACKGROUND: American Indian (AI) adolescents report high rates of marijuana use and related consequences and availability of marijuana has a robust relationship with marijuana use. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of perceptions of approval (i.e., injunctive norms), and acceptability (i.e., descriptive norms and perceived harm) in the relationship between marijuana availability and marijuana use. METHODS: Data collected from 2009–2013 included 3,498 AI 7(th)–12(th) graders residing on or near a reservation (47.8% female). Multilevel mediation analyses were conducted using the MLmed macro in IBM SPSS v26.0 to account for the nesting of data within schools. RESULTS: The associations between marijuana availability and perceived risks (b=−.38, p

This study explores the role of norms in employees' compliance with an organizational information security policy (ISP). Drawing upon norm activation theory, social norms theory, and ethical climate literature, we propose a model to examine how ISP-related personal norms are developed and then activated to affect employees' ISP compliance behavior. We collected our data through Amazon Mechanical Turk for hypothesis testing. The results show that ISP-related personal norms lead to ISP compliance behavior, and the effect is strengthened by ISP-related ascription of personal responsibility. Social norms related to ISP (including injunctive and subjective norms), awareness of consequences, and ascription of personal responsibility shape personal norms. Social norms related to ISP are the product of principle ethical climate in an organization. This study explores the role of norms in employees' compliance with organizational information security policies (ISP).ISP-related personal norms lead to ISP compliance behavior, and the effect is strengthened by ISP-related ascription of personal responsibility.Social norms related to ISP, awareness of consequences, and ascription of personal responsibility shape personal norms.Social norms related to ISP are the product of principle ethical climate in an organization.

Guided by the theory of planned behavior and attitude functional theory, this investigation examined the factors that predicted one's intentions to read or send text messages while driving. Based on a survey of 555 undergraduate students in the United States, results showed that their attitudes toward texting while driving were predicted by utilitarian (e.g., safety/risk and entertainment) and self-esteem maintenance motivations, but not by value-expressive motivations. Furthermore, the present research showed that participants' self-efficacy in driving well while texting, but not their efficacy in refraining from texting while driving, predicted attitudes toward texting while driving. Attitudes and both types of self-efficacy, in turn, predicted intentions to text while driving. Neither injunctive norms nor descriptive norms predicted participants' intentions to text while driving. At the theoretical level, this research indicates that the integration of attitudinal motivations (i.e., functions) and the theory of planned behavior can help understand one's attitudes and intentions to engage in a risky health behavior.

OBJECTIVE Serious crashes are more likely when teenage drivers have teenage passengers. One likely source of this increased risk is social influences on driving performance. This driving simulator study experimentally tested the effects of peer influence (i.e., risk-accepting compared to risk-averse peer norms reinforced by pressure) on the driving risk behavior (i.e., risky driving behavior and inattention to hazards) of male teenagers. It was hypothesized that peer presence would result in greater driving risk behavior (i.e., increased driving risk and reduced latent hazard anticipation), and that the effect would be greater when the peer was risk-accepting. Methods Fifty-three 16- and 17-year-old male participants holding a provisional U.S., State of Michigan driver license were randomized to either a risk-accepting or risk-averse condition. Each participant operated a driving simulator while alone and separately with a confederate peer passenger. The simulator world included scenarios designed to elicit variation in driving risk behavior with a teen passenger present in the vehicle. Results Significant interactions of passenger presence (passenger present vs. alone) by risk condition (risk-accepting vs. risk-averse) were observed for variables measuring: failure to stop at yellow light intersections (Incident Rate Ratio (IRR) = 2.16; 95% confidence interval [95CI] = 1.06, 4.43); higher probability of overtaking (IRR = 10.17; 95CI = 1.43, 73.35); shorter left turn latency (IRR = 0.43; 95CI = 0.31, 0.60); and, failure to stop at an intersection with an occluded stop sign (IRR = 7.90; 95CI = 2.06, 30.35). In all cases, greater risky driving by participants was more likely with a risk-accepting passenger versus a risk-averse passenger present and a risk-accepting passenger present versus driving alone. Conclusions Exposure of male teenagers to a risk-accepting confederate peer passenger who applied peer influence increased simulated risky driving behavior compared with exposure to a risk-averse confederate peer passenger or driving alone. These results are consistent with the contention that variability in teenage risky driving is in part explained by social influences.

Injunctive norms feedback is promising but understudied as a component of college drinking interventions. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate acceptability of injunctive norms feedback delivered to college drinkers via the web. We examined subjective interest in information reflecting peer approval of four sets of drinking behaviors and outcomes, and correlates of interest in the normative feedback. A sample of 221 young adults enrolled in a 2- or 4-year college or university (ages 18-25 years; 52% female) completed online surveys in which they were asked to rate their interest in each of 11 injunctive norms statements. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four sets of statements regarding peer approval of (a) intoxicated behaviors, (b) safe drinking strategies, (c) drinking-related consequences, and (d) drinking behaviors of potential partners. All items were framed to reflect disapproval of risky behaviors and approval of protective behaviors. Across norm sets, participants found the items to be moderately interesting and interest ratings did not differ across sets. Higher scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), stronger perceived approval of drinking in general (injunctive norms), stronger perceptions of drinking among peers (descriptive norms), and female gender were bivariately correlated with more interest. In a multiple regression, female gender, higher AUDIT (consequence subscale), and stronger general drinking injunctive norms remained significantly associated with interest in the pro-moderation statements. An important future direction is to determine whether the presentation of specific types of injunctive norms feedback can result in downward changes in drinking behavior.