Understanding alcohol use among U.S. Cambodians: how useful is the concept of cultural norms?

Observed differences in substance use are frequently attributed to cultural norms, which in turn are often interpreted as fixed properties of ethnically defined groups. During a community-based participatory research study (2009-2011), U.S. Cambodian women identified community-specific drinking behaviors and beliefs. To test how widely other U.S. Cambodians shared their views, we formulated them into a series of normative statements and surveyed local community members (N = 172). We identified few consensualized norms, which suggests that (A) norms may not be reducible to normative statements; and/or (B) norms may not be shared by all group members; and (C) if neither A nor B holds, then the attribution of observed drinking patterns to cultural norms lacks internal validity. Study's limitations were noted.