title: Normative Perceptions of Cannabis Use Among European University Students: Associations of Perceived Peer Use and Peer Attitudes With Personal Use and Attitudes.
abstract: Perceptions of peer behavior and attitudes exert considerable social pressure on young adults to use substances. This study investigated whether European students perceive their peers' cannabis use and approval of cannabis use to be higher than their own personal behaviors and attitudes, and whether estimations of peer use and attitudes are associated with personal use and attitudes.
  
  
  
  University students (n = 4,131) from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom completed an online survey as part of the Social Norms Intervention for Polysubstance usE in students (SNIPE) Project, a feasibility study of a web-based normative feedback intervention for substance use. The survey assessed students' (a) personal substance use and attitudes and (b) perceptions of their peers' cannabis use (descriptive norms) and attitudes (injunctive norms).
  
  
  
  Although most respondents (92%) did not personally use cannabis in the past 2 months, the majority of students thought that the majority of their peers were using cannabis and that their peers had more permissive attitudes toward cannabis than they did. When we controlled for students' age, sex, study year, and religious beliefs, perceived peer descriptive norms were associated with personal cannabis use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.42; 95% CI [1.22, 1.64]) and perceived injunctive norms were associated with personal attitudes toward cannabis use (OR = 1.46; 95% CI [1.09, 1.94]).
  
  
  
  European students appear to possess similar discrepancies between personal and perceived peer norms for cannabis use and attitudes as found in North American students. Interventions that address such discrepancies may be effective in reducing cannabis use.
authors: Division of Psychology, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.|Centre for Health Psychology & Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research, School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
authors: Robert C
authors: RC
authors: Dempsey
authors: Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, Dorset, United Kingdom.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: McAlaney
authors: Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS), Bremen, Germany.
authors: Stefanie M
authors: SM
authors: Helmer
authors: Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS), Bremen, Germany.
authors: Claudia R
authors: CR
authors: Pischke
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Marmara University Medical School, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors: Yildiz
authors: Y
authors: Akvardar
authors: Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
authors: Bridgette M
authors: BM
authors: Bewick
authors: School of Social, Psychological & Communication Sciences, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom.
authors: Helen J
authors: HJ
authors: Fawkner
authors: Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarra, Navarra, Spain.
authors: Francisco
authors: F
authors: Guillen-Grima
authors: Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark.
authors: Christiane
authors: C
authors: Stock
authors: Medical Sociology and Health Policy, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors: Bart
authors: B
authors: Vriesacker
authors: Medical Sociology and Health Policy, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Van Hal
authors: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Palacky University of Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors: Ferdinand
authors: F
authors: Salonna
authors: Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, PJ Safarik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia.
authors: Ondrej
authors: O
authors: Kalina
authors: Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, PJ Safarik University in Košice, Košice, Slovakia.
authors: Olga
authors: O
authors: Orosova
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors: Rafael T
authors: RT
authors: Mikolajczyk
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D005006:Ethnicity; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D010379:Peer Group; D066262:Social Norms; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult