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

描述（由申请人提供）：青少年普遍接触到电影和广告中的吸烟和酒精提示，这些接触已被表明对青少年吸烟和酒精使用有影响。然而，很少有研究缓和媒体接触的影响的因素。我们的初步数据证明，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。拟议的澄清节制的性质和机制的研究将由一个多学科研究小组进行，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。实地研究将在流行病学设计中对1800名青少年样本进行为期4年的研究，同时在3个地点对120名青少年和年轻人样本进行四项实验室研究，将通过外显和内隐认知测量来检验关于控制研究中调节效应机制的具体假设。该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酒精使用的开始和/或进展产生保护性调节作用，而不良的自我控制将产生脆弱性效应。这将在实地研究中进行调查，通过测试从媒体接触到期望、同伴关系和吸烟/饮酒行为的途径在自我控制亚组中是如何不同的。本研究通过研究自我控制构念对物质使用的信息编码和近端影响的作用，探讨四种假设的调节机制。我们假设适度可能通过媒体呈现中风险和奖励线索的差异编码而发生；在媒体上看到吸烟者和饮酒者的不同反应；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伴情况下，社会能力和抵抗效能的差异。实地研究和实验室研究相结合将提供有关媒体对青少年吸烟和饮酒影响的更详细的知识，而不是单独进行任何一种设计所能获得的。提出的研究具有理论意义，因为它提供了一个机会，以获得有关尚未广泛研究的调节效应的新知识。这项研究的结果将有助于为媒体扫盲计划提供信息，因为它更多地展示了青少年与媒体展示互动的过程，并提出了针对或多或少弱势群体设计健康传播的策略。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/酒精使用预防研究产生影响。

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.