The Role of Context-Specific Norms and Group Size in Alcohol Consumption and Compliance Drinking During Natural Drinking Events.

Using experience sampling methods we examined how group size and context-specific drinking norms corresponded to alcohol consumption and compliance with drinking offers during natural social drinking events. For 30 days, 397 college students reported daily on their alcohol consumption during social events, the size of the group they were with, the average alcohol consumption of its' members, and the number of drinks they accepted that came directly from the group they were with during these social drinking events. Larger groups corresponded with greater alcohol consumption, but only when context-specific norms were high. Furthermore, larger groups increased compliance with drinking offers when context-specific norms were high, but decreased compliance with drinking offers when context-specific norms were low. Thus, subtle features of the social-context may influence not only overall consumption behavior, but also compliance with more overt forms of social influence.