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A pretest-posttest quasi-experiment was used to evaluate a pilot test of a media literacy curriculum implemented during summer 2001 in Washington state. As expected, media literacy training reduced youths' beliefs that most peers use tobacco, increased their understanding of advertising techniques, and increased their levels of efficacy regarding the extent to which they would participate in advocacy and prevention activities. Mixed results were found for skepticism, which appeared to suffer from a ceiling effect, and surprising results were found for desirability, also seemingly an artifact of the measures used. The results indicate that media literacy training combining skill development with a motivational component represents a promising avenue for tobacco use prevention efforts. The study also helps establish some reliable outcome measures for media literacy evaluations, but additional testing should continue to pursue the development of a complete battery of reliable and valid indicators.

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Content analyses have cataloged the sexual scripts present in magazines largely because of their perceived value to readers and their potential role as sex educators. Although it is generally agreed that magazines have the potential to influence sexual attitudes and behavioral intentions, the effects of this medium are not as frequently researched as are other forms of media. The current study tested whether exposure to magazines was associated with intentions related to sexual consent negotiation. A survey of 313 college students indicated that exposure to men's magazines was significantly associated with lower intentions to seek sexual consent and lower intentions to adhere to decisions about sexual consent. In contrast, exposure to women's magazines was significantly associated with greater intentions to refuse unwanted sexual activity. Overall, the findings of this study further reinforce the critical need for responsible and realistic portrayals of sex in entertainment media, specifically magazines.

This study compared alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage advertising to which adolescents are exposed. A census of beverage advertising (N = 757) in popular magazines and television during November 1999-April 2000 was analyzed. Most alcohol ads appeared in Sports Illustrated (110), Rolling Stone (98), and Playboy (75) and outnumbered nonalcoholic beverage advertising by 3 to 1. Alcohol was almost never associated with dining. Alcohol ads emphasized sexual and social stereotypes and lacked diversity. One of every 6 magazine alcohol ads, and 1 of every 14 video-based ads, appeared to target teenagers. Many similarities existed between alcohol and nonalcohol ads. We conclude that alcohol is advertised heavily to youth through placement and appeals. The fact that themes in alcohol ads frequently parallel those in nonalcoholic beverage ads may further increase youths' receptivity.

Sexual coercion has gained researchers' attention as an underreported form of sexual abuse or harm. The percentage of male and female college students who reported engaging in sexual coercion was as high as 82% for verbally coercive behaviors over the course of a year. Guided by heterosexual scripting theory and the integrated model of behavioral prediction, we examine potential factors associated with college students' intentions to sexually coerce or to intervene when friends plan to sexually coerce (bystander intention). Factors included young college students' beliefs about rape myth acceptance, perceived norms, efficacy to reduce sexual-assault risk, and exposure to men's and women's magazines. As predicted, results indicate rape myth acceptance was positively associated with intentions to sexually coerce, and negatively associated with bystander intentions to intervene. Students' efficacy to reduce sexual-assault risk was negatively associated with intentions to sexually coerce, and positively associated with bystander intentions. Exposure to the heterosexual scripts in men's magazines, which connect sexual prowess to masculinity, was associated with intentions to sexually coerce. Exposure to magazines was not associated with bystander intentions to intervene. Overall, an understanding of the independent contribution of these factors toward sexual coercion and intervention has implications for dating violence prevention programming.

College students are at a relatively high risk for both sexual assault victimization and perpetration, and understanding sexual consent is imperative to reduce the incidence of sexual assault. Informed by the interactionist perspective of feminist theory, we surveyed 447 undergraduate students to identify factors associated with heterosexual college students' expectancies related to sexual consent. Women who believed in sexual stereotypes and endorsed music that degrades women were less likely than other women to expect to engage in healthy negotiation of sexual consent. Men who were confident that they could avoid perpetrating nonsexual, physical interpersonal violence were statistically more likely to report practicing healthy negotiation of sexual consent. These results indicate that it is important for practitioners to consider individuals' sexual stereotypes in the prevention of interpersonal sexual violence.

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