Self-Control as a Moderator for Effects of Mass Media on Adolescent Substance Use

说明(申请人提供)：在青少年观看的电影和广告中，接触吸烟和酒精线索的情况相当普遍，这些接触已被认为是对青少年吸烟和酒精使用的影响。然而，关于缓和媒体曝光影响的因素的研究很少。我们的初步数据提供了证据，表明良好的自我控制可以减少媒体暴露对青少年吸烟和饮酒的影响，但这种影响的范围和机制尚不清楚。为澄清缓和的性质和机制而拟议的研究将由一个多学科的调查小组进行，他们一直在合作研究媒体的影响。研究设计包括实地研究和实验室研究。现场研究将在流行病学设计中检验缓和效应的性质，对1800名青少年的样本进行为期4年的跟踪调查，而四项实验室研究将在3个地点的120名青少年和年轻人的样本中检验关于缓和效应机制的具体假设，在使用显性和隐性认知测量的对照研究中。这项研究基于一个双过程理论模型，该模型假设良好的自我控制将对吸烟和酗酒的开始和/或进展起到保护性的缓和作用，而不良的调节将产生脆弱性效应。这将在实地研究中通过测试从媒体接触到预期、同伴关系和吸烟/饮酒行为的路径在自我控制亚组中的不同而被研究。本实验室研究旨在通过研究自我控制结构对信息编码和对物质使用的近距离影响的作用，来考察四种假想的调节机制。我们假设，适度可能是通过在媒体演示中对风险和回报线索的不同编码；对在媒体上看到吸烟者和饮酒者的不同反应；对吸烟和饮酒预期的不同记忆可及性；或者在有吸烟或饮酒压力的同龄人情况下，社交能力和抵抗效能的差异。现场研究和实验室研究相结合，将提供关于媒体对青少年吸烟和饮酒影响的更详细的知识，而不是从单独进行的任何一项设计中获得。这项拟议的研究具有理论意义，因为它提供了一个机会，以获得关于一种尚未被广泛研究的缓和效应的新知识。这项研究的发现将有助于为媒体素养项目提供信息，因为它更多地展示了青少年与媒体演示互动的过程，并提出了为或多或少弱势群体设计健康沟通的策略。因此，该研究计划将对媒体影响的基础研究和以媒体为导向的吸烟/饮酒预防研究产生影响。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究与公共健康相关，因为它研究了大众媒体中烟草和酒精线索的暴露，这种暴露在青少年人群中传播，并对吸烟和早期饮酒产生影响。该项目将得出关于可以减少媒体曝光对吸烟等与健康相关的行为影响的因素的研究结果。研究结果将有助于教育项目，教会青少年如何更好地处理广告等具有说服力的沟通，以及如何暴露在电影和电视等娱乐媒体的潜在不利影响中。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a substantial prevalence of exposure to smoking and alcohol cues in movies and advertising viewed by adolescents, and these exposures have been indicated as an influence on adolescent smoking and alcohol use. However, there has been little research on factors that moderate the impact of media exposures. Our preliminary data provide evidence that good self-control reduces the impact of media exposures on adolescent smoking and alcohol use, but the scope and mechanism of this effect is not well understood. The proposed research to clarify the nature and mechanisms of moderation will be conducted by a multidisciplinary group of investigators who have been collaborating in studying media effects. The research design incorporates both field research and laboratory studies. The field study will examine the nature of moderation effects in an epidemiologic design with a sample of 1,800 younger adolescents followed over a 4-year period, while four laboratory studies with samples of 120 adolescents and young adults in 3 sites will examine specific hypotheses about the mechanism of moderation effects in controlled research with explicit and implicit cognitive measures. The research is based on a dual-process theoretical model which hypothesizes that good self-control will have a protective moderation effect for onset and/or progression of smoking and alcohol use whereas poor regulation will have a vulnerability effect. This will be investigated in the field study through testing how pathways from media exposure to expectancies, peer affiliations, and smoking/drinking behavior differ for self-control subgroups. The laboratory studies are designed to investigate four hypothesized mechanisms of moderation through studying effects of self- control constructs on encoding of information and enactment of proximal influences for substance use. We hypothesize that moderation may occur through differential encoding of risk and reward cues in media presentations; differential reactions to seeing smokers and drinkers in media; differential memory accessibility of expectancies about smoking and alcohol use; or differences in social competence and resistance efficacy in peer situations where there is pressure for smoking or drinking. The combination of field and laboratory studies will provide more detailed knowledge about media effects on adolescent smoking and alcohol use than can be obtained from either design conducted alone. The proposed research has theoretical significance because it provides an opportunity to obtain new knowledge about a moderation effect that has not been extensively studied. Findings from the research will be useful for informing media literacy programs by showing more about the processes through which adolescents interact with media presentations and suggesting strategies for designing health communications for more or less vulnerable groups. Thus the research program will have implications for both basic research on media influence and for media-oriented prevention research on smoking/alcohol use. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research is relevant to public health because it studies exposure to tobacco and alcohol cues in mass media, an exposure that is spread through the population of adolescents and has an impact on uptake of cigarette smoking and early alcohol use. The project will yield findings about factors that can reduce the impact of media exposures on health-related behaviors such as cigarette smoking. The results will be useful for educational programs that teach adolescents how to deal better with persuasive communications such as advertising and with exposure to potentially adverse influences in entertainment media such as movies and television.