Injunctive Norms for Cannabis: A Comparison of Perceived and Actual Approval of Close Social Network Members

Background: Research documents the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of normative and approved behaviors in general) on the cannabis use of emerging adults (EAs). Little work, however, has examined reflective injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of approval of one’s own behavior) for cannabis use. Furthermore, cannabis norms research has yet to examine how perceived injunctive norms (perceived approval of close social network members) map onto actual injunctive norms (actual approval of close social network members), or their relative importance in predicting EA’s cannabis use. Objective: We compared the importance of perceived and actual reflective injunctive norms in terms of cross-sectional associations with EA’s cannabis use. Method: Sixty EAs (egos; mean age = 21.6 years; 71.7% women) who used cannabis in the past month reported on their cannabis use quantity (Q) and frequency (F) and indicated their perceptions of their close social network members’ (alters’) approval of cannabis use. Alters (n = 101) reported on their actual approval of the ego’s cannabis use. Results: Perceived and actual injunctive norms were significantly and strongly correlated (r =.50). Stepwise regression indicated that actual, more so than perceived, injunctive norms were significantly associated with egos’ concurrent QxF of cannabis use Conclusions: Actual approval of close social network members appears more relevant to EA cannabis outcomes than injunctive norm perceptions. Clinicians might encourage EAs to build affiliations with less risky social networks. Researchers should collect approval information directly from close network members as it adds significant information over-and-above participant perceptions.