Press Coverage (2003)

February 2003
Footnotes, a publication of the American Sociological Association
Public Forum

Binge Drinking Prevention Research
By Henry Wechsler and Toben F. Nelson, Harvard School of Public Health

Written in response to Kerry J. Strand's article "Sociological Approaches Hold Promise to Curb Campus Drinking" [Provide link] published in the December 2002 issue of the American Sociological Association's Footnotes, Messrs. Wechsler and Toben call for prevention efforts based on "solid theory, measurement, and data," and claim that "the social-norms marketing approach so favorably presented in the article has a weak theoretical basis that is isolated from other theory and has little empirical support."

Student Drinking: Reply to Wechsler and Nelson
By H. Wesley Perkins, Hobart and Williams Smith Colleges

Regarding Messrs. Wechsler and Nelson's claim that the social norms approach is "isolated from other theory," Dr. Perkins replies: "What could be any more grounded in a fundamental sociological perspective than work on norms affecting human behavior and the power of peer influence? What could be more in line with classic sociological tradition than pointing out our often inaccurate perceptions of what is normative, and how those perceptions of what is real become real in their consequences (W. I. Thomas) as a partially self-fulfilling prophecy (Robert Merton)?"

Regarding their claim that there is little empirical support, Dr. Perkins writes: "I recently counted more than two-dozen academic journal articles consistently demonstrating pervasive misperceptions and another dozen articles and published monographs providing evidence of positive impact with social norms interventions." Citations for two reviews of this literature are provided.