Parental Mediation in the Digital Era: Increasing Children’s Critical Thinking May Help Decrease Positive Attitudes toward Alcohol

Abstract

We demonstrate in our research that discussion-based parental mediation may successfully decrease the negative effects that youth's engagement with alcohol brands on social media may have on attitudes toward alcohol through its effects on critical thinking. A clear pattern was found with positive mediation leading to unhealthy outcomes and negative mediation predicting healthier behaviors. Youth whose parents critiqued media messages reported more critical thinking skills, which predicted less interaction with alcohol brands on social media and fewer expectancies toward alcohol. On the other hand, youth whose parents endorsed media portrayals of drinking reported fewer critical thinking skills and were thus more likely to interact with alcohol brands on social media. Including a media literacy component in alcohol education that target parental strategies and that are conducive to discussion may lead to beneficial health outcomes in the digital era.

Shaping Alcohol Health Literacy: A Systematic Concept Analysis and Review

“…The 26 articles included in this review have undergone an evolutionary concept analysis of alcohol health literacy, which is shown in Table 2. In this article, we have adopted the term "alcohol health literacy" but the review shows that the term "alcohol literacy" is often used as a surrogate term (DeBenedittis, 2011;Fried & Dunn, 2012;Pati et al, 2018; Rundle-Thiele, Simieniako, Kubacki, & Deshpande, 2013) and similar terms adopted include "health literacy" (Anderson & Rehm, 2016;Barnard et al, 2014;Chisholm, Manganello, Kelleher, & Marshal, 2014) and "media literacy" (Chen, 2013;Dumbili & Henderson, 2017;Gordon, Howard, Jones, & Kervin, 2016;Radanielina Hita, Kareklas, & Pinkleton, 2018). The detailed concept analysis as shown in Figure 3 revealed a concept with many different attributes; the implications of those practice interventions are illustrated in Table 3.…”

“…Many of those who have studied alcohol health literacy have done so in the context of media literacy, and specifically in the broader framework of media education, where it is understood as applying critical thinking skills to alcohol marketing and media messages and developing the ability to identify alcohol messages, become aware of how those mes-sages may influence behavior, and deconstruct those messages with attention to the techniques used to attract attention (Austin et al, 2016;Banerjee et al, 2013;Berey, Loparco, Leeman, & Grube, 2017;Bohman et al, 2004;Chang et al, 2016;Chen, 2013;Dumbili & Henderson, 2017;Fried & Dunn, 2012;Gordon et al, 2016;Hall, Lindsay, & West, 2011;Kheokao, Kirkgulthorn, Yingrengreung, & Singhprapai, 2013;Radanielina Hita et al, 2018). Common to the Australian media literacy program (Gordon et al, 2016) and the U.S.-based program ALC (DeBenedittis, 2011) is the aim of demonstrating to young people how marketing is designed to produce positive beliefs about the benefits of drinking associated with sociability, independence, masculinity, and attractiveness.…”

“…Other attributes identified as being central to alcohol health literacy include self-efficacy and an ability to manage drinking situations (Gordon et al, 2016;Ratzan, 2016), and using information to inform decision-making (Anderson & Rehm, 2016;Radanielina Hita et al, 2018;Ratzan, 2016; Rundle-Thiele et al, 2013). The ECALC (Fried & Dunn, 2012) is a program that aims to change alcohol expectancy and challenge beliefs about the rewards of drinking.…”

“…Reflecting also the situating of alcohol health literacy as a property of the individual and especially important for young people, several studies identify the importance of parents and schools in providing advice (Kheokao et al, (Austin & Johnson, 1997;Banerjee et al, 2015;Berey et al, 2017). Drinking is a social behavior and studies identify the importance of changing social norms (Pati et al, 2018;Radanielina Hita et al, 2018;Ratzan, 2016;Rundle-Thiele et al, 2013), community social control (Gordon et al, 2016;Pati et al, 2018), and developing skills required to manage social situations where there is alcohol involved (Austin et al, 2016;Bohman et al, 2004;Ratzan, 2016). Also identified is how marketing and label-ling of alcohol content and guidelines can contribute to alcohol health literacy (Anderson & Rehm, 2016;Corrigan et al, 2018;Kheokao et al, 2013) as well as control of distribution (Berey et al, 2017;Pati et al, 2018;Radanielina Hita et al, 2018;Ratzan, 2016).…”

Determining the feasibility of an online, media mediation program for parents to improve parent-child sexual health communication

“…Media mediation, particularly active and restrictive mediation, has an important influence on youth media exposure and wellbeing (Buijzen & Valkenberg, 2005;Nathanson, 2001;Valkenburg et al, 2013). Active mediation is associated with increased media processing skills in children (Buijzen & Valkenberg, 2005;Nathanson, 2004;Valkenburg et al, 1999), and negative reinforcement of unhealthy media messages by parents is associated with a reduction in children's expectancies about positive behavioral consequences of the risk behavior (Radanielina Hita, Kareklas, & Pinkleton, 2018).…”