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Social Norms

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In November 2007, Thurrock & Basildon College and Palmers College took part in a national survey to investigate how students believe that their peers behave in four aspects of their lives:

  1. Alcohol Consumption
  2. Smoking
  3. Sexual Health
  4. Exercise

Previous studies carried out in America has show that in many cases, students over-estimate the activity of their peers, so the aim of this survey was to see if this is the same for students in the South East of England. The statistics below gives some of the results from the Colleges:

MOST (71%) College Students in the East of England NEVER have unsafe sex
MOST (51%) College Students in the East of England DRINK RESPONSIBLY
MOST (62%) College Students in the East of England do NOT smoke
Most (65%) of College Students in the East of England exercise AT LEAST once a week or more often

In general, the perceptions that students have of their peers habits is higher than the reality. For example, students believed that their peers drink at least 10% more than they actually do. For smoking, this difference was much higher, at least 20%.