Social mediation of persuasive media in adolescent substance prevention.

Abstract

Social commentary about prevention messages may affect their likelihood of acceptance. To investigate this possibility, student participants (N = 663) viewed three anti-marijuana advertisements, each followed immediately by videotaped discussions involving four adults or four adolescents using either extreme or moderate language in their positive commentaries. The commentaries were expected to affect participants’ perceptions of the extent to which the ads were designed to control their behavior (perceived control), which was hypothesized to inhibit persuasion. Two indirect effects analyses were conducted. Marijuana attitudes and usage intentions were the outcome variables. Both analyses revealed statistically significant source by language interactions on participants’ perceived control (both p < .02). Further analyses revealed significant indirect effects of language extremity on attitudes and intentions through perceived control with adult, but not peer sources (both p < .05). These perceptions were associated with more negative marijuana attitudes and diminished usage intentions when adults used moderate (vs. extreme) language in their favorable ad commentaries (both p < .05). The findings may facilitate development of more effective prevention methods that emphasize the importance the role of perceived control in persuasion, and the impact of interpersonal communication variations on acceptance of media-transmitted prevention messages.

Implementation of the Icelandic Prevention Model: a critical discussion of its worldwide transferability

“…Hofman & Warnick, 2013) studies demonstrate that for instance family dinners are a protective against antisocial behaviour in general. Moreover, media strategies that target parents only in order to promote parental monitoring and family dinners belong to the relatively few evidence-based forms of using media in prevention (Crano et al, 2017;Lac & Crano, 2009;Metzler et al, 2012). Thus, targeting evidencebased risk factors in the prevention of substance use may have contributed to the lower drinking rates among Icelandic youth.…”

Characterizing Reactance in Communication Research: A Review of Conceptual and Operational Approaches

“…Early reactance research often relied solely on indicators of freedom threat or boomerang outcomes. Despite the shift toward capturing evidence of the intervening reactance response, some communication research continues to measure only freedom threat and/or outcomes (e.g., Crano, Alvaro, Tan, & Siegel, 2017; Zemack-Rugar, Moore, & Fitzsimons, 2017).…”

Resistance, reactance, and misinterpretation: Highlighting the challenge of persuading people with depression to seek help

“…People can restore lost freedom in one of several ways, including engaging in the restricted behavior (Brehm, 1966), engaging in a different freedom (Wicklund, 1974), or displaying negative cognitions and anger (Dillard & Shen, 2005). Prior studies illustrate these processes in response to messages discouraging smoking (Grandpre, Alvaro, Burgoon, Miller, & Hall, 2003) and drug use (Crano, Alvaro, Tan, & Siegel, 2017), as well as those encouraging organ donation (Reinhart & Anker, 2012). As the goal of many efforts targeting people with heightened depressive symptomatology is to increase help-seeking behavior, the ideal scenario would involve people with heightened depressive symptomatology becoming less psychologically reactant as depressive symptomatology increases-thus making them less likely to respond negatively to help-seeking messages.…”