Social Norms Team Gears Up to Make Change!

On October 14, youth leaders from Edison High, Roosevelt High, Sunnyside High, Kerman High, Selma High, and Reedly College came together to begin the first steps of their Social Norms Campaign. The campaign seeks to gather data from all the schools listed above to determine the true norms around underage drinking present at each school and share the truth with students using a Social Norms Marketing Campaign.

Social Norms marketing is based on the central concept of social norms theory – that much of people’s behavior is influenced by their perceptions of what is “normal” or “typical.” The problem is that we often severely misperceive the typical behaviors or attitudes of our peers. For example, if young people believe that the majority of their peers engage in underage drinking, then they are more likely to drink. Using social norms marketing to inform people that the majority of their peers do not engage in underage drinking, can potentially lead them to avoid drinking. (mostofus.org)

Youth were trained in Youth Action Research. They learned various methods of data collection, steps of research and evaluation, and how to create a survey. By the end of the training workshop youth had created survey questions around underage drinking norms. For more information on training services offered by Youth Leadership Institute please visit www.yli.org or email us at training@yli.org.