HLTH 5403 Module 2 Social Norms and Peer Influence Analysis Example

Everyone Is Getting Tan: Descriptive Norms, Injunctive Norms and Peer Influence on Tanning Among Rural High School Girls

Student Name

American College of Education

HLTH5403: Behavioral Practices in Health Education

Module 2 Assignment

Instructor Name

October 12, 2026

Introduction

Module 1 of this project found that tanning among girls at a composite rural Midwestern high school carries cultural meaning, signaling health, beauty and belonging, and is supported by family traditions and rural routines. This paper narrows the focus to the social world of the girls themselves. Adolescence is a period in which the opinions and behavior of peers carry unusual weight, and tanning is a visible behavior, easy to notice and compare. The question here is how social norms and peer influence shape the decision to tan and the decision not to use sun protection.

Two Kinds of Norms

Cialdini et al. (1990) distinguished two kinds of social norms. Descriptive norms describe what most people actually do, and they influence behavior by signaling what is typical and likely to work. Injunctive norms describe what most people approve or disapprove of, and they influence behavior through expected social rewards and punishments. The two can point in different directions: a student may believe most classmates disapprove of tanning beds but also see that many classmates use them. Cialdini and colleagues also showed that norms influence behavior most when they are brought to mind, that is, when a situation makes them noticeable.

For tanning, both kinds of norms operate. Tanned skin is on display every day in late spring and summer, so the descriptive norm is highly visible. Compliments, teasing and social media reactions express the injunctive norm. The rest of this paper examines each source of influence in turn.

What Girls See Their Peers Doing

In the composite school, the descriptive norm for tanning is reinforced by events. Before prom and homecoming, groups of friends book salon sessions together, and the results are visible in photographs posted the same night. On sports teams that practice outdoors, most players arrive with tans by midseason, and few reapply sunscreen during practices or tournaments. Among the small group of juniors interviewed by the health educator, several described feeling out of place when they were pale at the first pool party of the summer.

Holman and Watson (2013), in their review of studies of U.S. adolescents, found that having friends who tan was one of the social factors most consistently linked to intentional tanning. The finding fits a simple mechanism: when tanning is what peers do, it seems normal, safe and expected, and not tanning can feel like a statement.

What Girls Think Their Peers Approve

The injunctive norm is expressed through comments and reactions. Girls reported that friends compliment a tan, saying that someone looks healthy or glowing, and that paleness sometimes draws teasing. On social media, photos showing tanned skin receive more likes and comments. Sunscreen use carries little social reward and sometimes mild ridicule, especially thick or white sunscreen on the face. Boys' comments also matter, and several girls said that boys in their class preferred tanned skin, although none had asked them directly.

These perceptions of approval are powerful precisely because they are rarely checked. A girl who believes her friends expect a tan acts accordingly, whether or not they do.

When Norms Are Misperceived

Research on student drinking offers a useful lesson. Perkins and Berkowitz (1986), surveying college students about alcohol, found that students believed their peers held more permissive attitudes toward drinking than the peers actually reported. That gap between perceived and actual norms led to social norms campaigns that correct misperceptions by publicizing accurate data.

A similar gap appears in the composite school. On the student health survey, girls estimated that about 70% of girls in their grade had tried to tan in the past year; the actual figure was about 40%. They also estimated that most classmates disliked sunscreen, while half of the girls surveyed agreed that wearing sunscreen was a smart thing to do. If girls overestimate how many peers tan and underestimate how many approve of protection, some are conforming to a norm that is weaker than they think. That finding creates an opportunity for education, discussed below.

Family and Adult Norms

Peers are not the only reference group. The same review linked adolescent tanning to parents' own tanning and to parental permission (Holman & Watson, 2013). In the composite community, some mothers tan and some pay for salon packages as gifts before prom, while coaches rarely mention sun protection. Adult behavior signals both a descriptive norm, adults do it, and an injunctive norm, adults approve. Where parents and coaches model protection, by wearing hats, providing shade or bringing sunscreen, girls reported that it felt more acceptable to do the same.

Phones, Media and Online Peers

Much peer influence now happens online. Using a national survey of adolescents, Niu et al. (2018) found that girls and non-Hispanic white adolescents had higher odds of frequent intentional outdoor tanning and that more time spent on cell phones was associated with both outdoor and indoor tanning. A single-wave survey like this one leaves open whether phones drive tanning or the reverse, but it fits what students describe: a steady stream of images of tanned friends, influencers and celebrities, along with tanning tips and product promotions. Online, the descriptive norm is exaggerated, because people post their best photos, and the injunctive norm is quantified in likes.

Norms Around Protection Itself

Norms apply not only to tanning but to the protective behaviors that could replace it, and in this school those norms are weak or negative. Sunscreen is associated with younger children, beach vacations and parents who fuss, not with teenagers going about ordinary summer days. Hats are acceptable for boys on the ballfield but rarely worn by girls outside of practice. Long sleeves in hot weather are considered strange. Several interviewed students said that applying sunscreen in front of friends felt awkward, as though it signaled worry or vanity, and that they would do it more readily if everyone did. That observation captures a central point of norms research: a behavior that feels odd when done alone can become ordinary when done together. It also suggests that the goal of health education is not only to reduce a risky norm but to build a protective one, by making protection visible, shared and socially rewarded. Sunscreen dispensers at the pool, team-branded hats and a quick group application before games are small changes that could shift what looks typical.

Group Dynamics

Friend groups and teams develop their own shared standards, and members who deviate may feel pressure to conform. In small rural schools, where students may have known one another since kindergarten and social groups overlap across classes, teams and churches, those standards spread quickly and are hard to escape. At the same time, groups can change quickly when a respected member changes. The girl described in Module 1 whose aunt had melanoma stopped tanning, and her friends noticed; two of them reported using sunscreen more often afterward. Influential peers can move a group's norm in either direction.

Implications for Health Education

These findings suggest several approaches. First, correct misperceived norms by sharing accurate local data, for example that most girls in the school did not use a tanning bed last year and that half think sunscreen is smart. Second, make protective norms visible by having teams and coaches build sunscreen and shade into practice routines, so that protection becomes what the group does. Third, enlist respected peers, such as team captains, to model and talk about protection. Fourth, involve parents, since their behavior and permission shape both kinds of norms. Finally, address social media directly by teaching students how posted images distort perceptions of what is typical. Module 3 will apply a behavior theory to show how these norms combine with attitudes and perceived control to shape the decision to tan.

References

Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(6), 1015-1026. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.6.1015

Holman, D. M., & Watson, M. (2013). Correlates of intentional tanning among adolescents in the United States: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(5), S52-S59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.09.021

Niu, Z., Parmar, V., Xu, B., Coups, E. J., & Stapleton, J. L. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of intentional outdoor and indoor tanning among adolescents in the United States: Findings from the FLASHE survey. Preventive Medicine Reports, 11, 187-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.06.014

Perkins, H. W., & Berkowitz, A. D. (1986). Perceiving the community norms of alcohol use among students: Some research implications for campus alcohol education programming. International Journal of the Addictions, 21(9-10), 961-976. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826088609077249