Social Norms
What are social norms?
Social norms refers to the rules of behavior and informal understandings that are considered acceptable in a group or society, and guide people’s behavior. These norms can influence a variety of behaviors such as gender norms, norms about aggression, and whether or not caregivers will seek help. The Violence and Injury Prevention ‒ Mental Health Promotion (VIP-MHP) Branch prioritizes creating healthy social norms along with connectedness, economic stability and supports and behavioral health, to build community resilience and prevent multiple forms of violence and injury.
Social Norms are measured through risk or protective factors that are common across multiple outcomes like substance abuse and violence and injury prevention. Those factors may include:
Cultural norms that support aggression toward others.
Media violence.
Harmful norms around masculinity and femininity.
Weak health, educational, economic, and social policies/laws.
Norms about seeking help as a parent or caregiver.
Upstream Prevention:
By improving healthy social norms as a shared priority, the following programs leverage resources to address upstream risk and protective factors, and prevent multiple forms of violence and injury at once. While the VIP-MHP Branch primarily works at the societal and community/organizational levels, the branch also collaborates with partners working at the individual and interpersonal levels of the model.