Dear Keith,

It is quite common that high school students believe that most of their peers are experimenting with alcohol as well as engaging in other risky behaviors. In fact, it is not true. Every two years most states give an anonymous survey to high school students to look at trends for a variety of risk behaviors. In the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), students were asked a variety of questions related to alcohol use. For example, when asking about binge drinking (having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row within a couple of hours), only 21.9 percent said they had engaged in the behavior during the thirty days before the survey. This means that the majority of high school students (approximately 78 percent) do not binge drink. While too many high school students (38.7 percent) indicated that they had at least one drink of alcohol during the thirty days before the survey, still the majority of students (approximately 61 percent) did not drink.

“Social norming” is an effort to educate people about these kinds of misperceptions because when students mistakenly believe that “everybody does it,” it actually increases the chances that they will do it as well. On the flip side, when teens learn the truth—that most other teens practice healthy behaviors—they are likely to drink less. That’s why there are social norming campaigns at high schools to educate students about the true facts regarding at-risk behaviors. Similarly, you and other students in your school can use social norming strategies to help others stay safe.

While you might feel helpless regarding getting involved in your local student group, there’s actually a lot that you can do at your school to help fellow students learn the facts about alcohol use in your state. To find out about YRBS results in your community, go to http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/app. You can click on your state and get the facts about alcohol use and other risk behaviors.