Adolescents' responses to anti-smoking PSAs

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescent smoking rates have declined in from peak levels of the late 1990's, but in recent years, this rate of decline appears to have slowed. Anti-smoking media seem to have had some effect on these fluctuating smoking rates and it has become increasingly important for tobacco control efforts to target never smokers to prevent them from ever experimenting with smoking and also to target experimenters and current smokers specifically in order to arrest progression to more regular, dependent levels of smoking. However, there are key gaps in the literature that limit progress on this critical point. There is no consensus on what the most effective features of anti-smoking media are, a lack of theory-driven information about the psychological mechanisms are that regulate responses to anti-smoking media, and a paucity of information about how adolescent smoking status moderates responses to anti-smoking media. This research proposes to test a novel social cognitive model that specifies how features of anti-smoking Public Service Announcements (PSAs) influence high risk smoking cognitions (i.e., smoking attitudes, refusal selfefficacy, and future smoking intentions) that have been shown to predict future smoking behavior among adolescents (ages 11-17) who have varying levels of experience with cigarette smoking. Study 1, a cross sectional correlational design, will evaluate the degree to which the perceived persuasive strength of anti-smoking PSAs is related to the perceived valence (negative to positive) of the peripheral cues displayed by the sources in those PSAs and the perceived anti-smoking argument quality of the PSAs and how these relations are moderated by smoking status. Study 2, an experimental study, will evaluate, in a 3 (smoking status: never smoker, experimenter, current smoker) X 2 (PSA argument quality, weak, strong) X 2 (PSA peripheral cue valence: negative, positive) X 2 (time: pre-, post-) mixed model design, the degree to which manipulating the peripheral features and persuasive strength of anti-smoking PSAs causally affects changes in future smoking intentions, smoking attitudes, and smoking refusal self-efficacy among adolescents. The results promise to advance understanding of how critical ingredients of anti-smoking advertising causally influence the efficacy x>f those advertisements in changing important predictors of adolescent smoking behavior. The long-term implication of the results of these studies is that more effective anti-smoking advertisements could be designed and developed.