Identifying Effective Components of Alcohol Abuse Prevention Programs: Effects of Fear Appeals, Message Style, and Source Expertise

Stainback, Robert D.; Rogers, Ronald W.

doi:10.3109/10826088309039356

Cited by 58 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…These findings add to the accumulating support for the use of strong negative emotional appeals in advertisements aimed at changing health attitudes and behaviours. Such appeals have been shown to be effective in communications regarding seatbelt use,23 smoking cessation,14 24 condom use,25 and alcohol abuse,26 especially when the efficacy of the preventive behaviour was clear. These findings contradict recommendations in the literature that discourage the use of ads featuring short or long term health effects in anti-tobacco media campaigns 1…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics

Biener

McCallum-Keeler²,

Nyman³

2000

Tobacco Control

151

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Results-56% of respondents reported seeing anti-tobacco advertisements at least once a week during the preceding three years. The average eVectiveness rating for all advertisements recalled on a 0-10 scale was 7.29, and did not diVer by smoking status group. Advertisements eliciting strong negative emotions (sadness and fear) were rated most eVective by quitters, non-smokers, and by smokers who at baseline were planning to quit soon. Humorous, entertaining advertisements were seen as ineVective by all groups. Conclusion-The Massachusetts antitobacco campaign achieved high levels of penetration into the population and was well received by both smokers and non-smokers. The results suggest that advertisements depicting suVering as a result of tobacco use may be instrumental in promoting cessation or reinforcing the decision to quit. Further research is needed to lend additional support to the link between perceived eVectiveness and smoking behaviour change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics

Biener

McCallum-Keeler²,

Nyman³

2000

Tobacco Control

151

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“…We coded the amount of time between the fear appeal and the measurement of the outcome variable using three discrete categories: (a) The measure occurred the same day as the fear appeal exposure (e.g., Taubman Ben-Ari et al, 2000; Cho & Salmon, 2006; Nabi et al, 2008; Smart & Fejer, 1974; Stainback & Rogers, 1983); (b) the measure occurred one to fourteen days after fear appeal exposure (e.g., Berkowitz, 1998; Kirscht et al, 1978; Muthusamy et al, 2009); and (c) the measure occurred more than fourteen days after fear appeal exposure (e.g., Bagley & Low, 1992; Smith & Stutts, 2003; Witte & Morrison, 1995). We used categories because delayed outcomes often occurred within a specified range – e.g., participants returned to the lab during the following two weeks, but the exact number of days was not specified.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories.

Tannenbaum

Hepler

Zimmerman

et al. 2015

Psychological Bulletin

866

608

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Fear appeals are a polarizing issue, with proponents confident in their efficacy and opponents confident that they backfire. We present the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis investigating fear appeals’ effectiveness for influencing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We tested predictions from a large number of theories, the majority of which have never been tested meta-analytically until now. Studies were included if they contained a treatment group exposed to a fear appeal, a valid comparison group, a manipulation of depicted fear, a measure of attitudes, intentions, or behaviors concerning the targeted risk or recommended solution, and adequate statistics to calculate effect sizes. The meta-analysis included 127 papers (9% unpublished) yielding 248 independent samples (NTotal = 27,372) collected from diverse populations. Results showed a positive effect of fear appeals on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, with the average effect on a composite index being random-effects trued¯ = 0.29. Moderation analyses based on prominent fear appeal theories showed that the effectiveness of fear appeals increased when the message included efficacy statements, depicted high susceptibility and severity, recommended one-time only (vs. repeated) behaviors, and targeted audiences that included a larger percentage of female message recipients. Overall, we conclude that (a) fear appeals are effective at positively influencing attitude, intentions, and behaviors, (b) there are very few circumstances under which they are not effective, and (c) there are no identified circumstances under which they backfire and lead to undesirable outcomes.

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“…Perceptions of self-efficacy (i.e., perceived ability to perform a rec-ommended response) and response efficacy (i.e., one's beliefs about whether or not a recommended response works to avert a threat) determine whether people are motivated to control the danger (changing one's behavior) or control the fear (changing one's perception of the threat). For example, a study looking at message design for alcohol abuse prevention campaigns indicated that fear appeals are successful in improving adolescents' intentions not to drink (Stainback & Rogers, 1983). Witte and colleagues found, in a study to prevent the spread of genital warts, that fear appeals can be persuasive if the level of fear and the perceptions of response efficacy are high (1998).…”

Section: Introduction Framingmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Effects of Framing and Fear on Ratings and Impact of Antimarijuana PSAs

Zimmerman

Cupp

Abadi³

et al. 2014

Substance Use & Misuse

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A laboratory experiment, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, involved 243 U.S. undergraduate students and employed a 2 (gain-framed vs. loss-framed) × 2 (high vs. low threat) plus control group pretest-posttest experimental design to assess the combined effects of frame (gain vs. loss) and level of threat of public service announcements (PSAs) about marijuana on attitudes, beliefs, and intentions related to marijuana, as well as the relationship of message condition to ratings of PSAs. Results suggest that loss-framed messages may lead to greater perceived threat, as well as reactance, and gain-framed messages may lead to a greater reduction in positive attitudes toward marijuana than loss-framed messages. Finally, frame and threat may interact in a complex way. Further research is suggested to replicate these findings. A substantial body of carefully crafted and systematic research studies examining both content and features of messages increasingly informs mass media prevention efforts, including the development of public service announcements (PSAs). Although the significance of messages on commercial broadcast stations may be diminishing with the increasing role and impact of new media, many of the basic questions addressed by this research are likely to apply across media channels. Nonetheless, important questions about what makes a message effective in changing an individual's attitudes or behavior remain to be answered. In this paper, the authors focus on two theoretically derived strategies that offer possibilities for developing persuasive messages: framing and threat.

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Identifying Effective Components of Alcohol Abuse Prevention Programs: Effects of Fear Appeals, Message Style, and Source Expertise

Cited by 58 publications

References 14 publications

Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics

Adults' response to Massachusetts anti-tobacco television advertisements: impact of viewer and advertisement characteristics

Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories.

The Effects of Framing and Fear on Ratings and Impact of Antimarijuana PSAs

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