Addresses Individual and Group Norms That Support Health-Enhancing Behaviors

Description: An effective curriculum (a) provides instructional strategies and learning experiences to help students accurately assess the level of risk-taking behavior among their peers (for example, how many of their peers use illegal drugs) and to correct misperceptions of peer and social norms, (b) emphasizes the value of good health, and (c) reinforces health-enhancing attitudes and beliefs.¹

This characteristic focuses on reinforcing and promoting healthy social norms and getting students to believe that practicing healthy behaviors is the “cool” thing to do. This can be accomplished in several different ways.

First, it is important to provide information that helps students accurately assess levels of risk and protective behaviors by their peers or youth who share similar characteristics and experiences (e.g., age, sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or geographic region). When presenting health-behavior data to students, it is important to report local data when possible. Many local health departments, and even school districts, may have available data on student health risk and protective behaviors. Data should be presented in a positive way, meaning it describes the protective or beneficial behavior or outcome you want students to engage in. For example, if 25% of students in grade 10 in their school district are current alcohol users, it should be reported to students that 75% of their peers are not current alcohol users. Presenting data in this way can help promote and reinforce health-enhancing norms around a certain behavior.

Second, it is important to correct misperceptions of peer and social norms, sometimes called “perceived norms.” Perceived norms are what people think others are doing or believe. Perceived norms can be based on what people see and hear around them (e.g., from family members, peers, school staff, people in the community, or media outlets), and they are reinforced when people receive information from various sources. It is common for preadolescents and adolescents to believe that most or all of their peers are participating in risky behavior, like drinking alcohol, because of what they see, hear, or have been told by someone. Using accurate and reliable health data about adolescent behavior is critical to correct misperceptions about peer and social norms. 

Third, it is important to emphasize the value of good health and to reinforce health- enhancing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The teacher can help accomplish this by modeling health-enhancing behaviors, such as drinking water (instead of soft drinks) during class, and by encouraging students to adopt or maintain healthy behaviors. Teachers can also allow for opportunities for students to share their health-enhancing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors throughout lessons. For example, the curriculum may include advocacy- related projects for students to develop persuasive messages to encourage their peers to adopt or maintain healthy behaviors.

Example 1

For this example, the unit that is being taught is Promoting Physical Activity, and the HBO for this lesson is PA-1: Engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 60 minutes a day (HECAT Appendix 3).

1. Promoting individual and group norms in a lesson will typically take place after students have learned functional information and skills related to the HBO of the lesson. In this example, the students have learned about the recommended amounts of physical activity for children, different types of physical activities, and the importance of choosing a variety of ways to be active. They have also learned how to encourage others to be physically active.
2. The students then select destinations in the community, region, and state where they would like to walk to as a class (group norm).
3. The students then use a path of a predetermined distance (e.g., a walk around the playground before, during, or after school) to keep track of individual and class mileage and their progress toward reaching the destinations in the community, region, and state. Throughout this activity, the students and teacher discuss the importance of everyone participating in the walking activity (individual norm) and the importance of supporting others to be physically active (group norm). Note: The teacher and students could compete with another class at their school to reach these destinations.

Example 2

For this example, the unit that is being taught is Promoting Food and Nutrition, and the HBO for this lesson is FN-6: Drink lots of water (HECAT Appendix 3). The specific focus of this lesson is playground safety.

1. Promoting individual and group norms in a lesson will typically take place after students have learned functional information and skills related to the HBO of the lesson. In this example, the students have learned about the benefits of consuming enough water and the skills to encourage others to drink water.
2. The teacher and the students have water bottles in the classroom and have regular water breaks to remind everyone to drink water throughout the day (individual and group norm).
3. The students create and post individual slogans for their desks related to the theme of “I Drink Water” (individual norm). 
4. The students then work in small groups to create posters related to the theme of “We All Drink Water” (group norm).

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