Naked flames: University students' peer norms about unsafe fire behavior

Unsafe use of fire by young people, in particular university students, is not well understood. This research examined whether perceived descriptive and injunctive norms influence university students' unsafe fire behavior. An online survey was completed by 804 students attending two New Zealand universities (aged M = 19.4 years, SD = 1.5), to investigate how they perceived their peers' unsafe fire behavior and how participants believed their peers perceived their own (i.e., the participants') unsafe fire behavior. Findings indicated that university students generally perceived that their peers played with fire more frequently than they did themselves, and that peers were more accepting of others' unsafe fire behavior than they were themselves. Further, injunctive norms were predictive of participants' engagement in unsafe fire behavior. Overall, these results suggest that university students adjust their behavior according to perceptions of peer norms. Such findings have potential implications for future research, including the development of targeted interventions for this group of young adults.