Abstract
This study of youth smoking onset aims to replicate previously published media moderation effects for race/ethnicity in a
national longitudinal multiethnic sample of U.S. adolescents. Previous research has demonstrated that associations between
media and smoking during adolescence are greater for Whites than Hispanics or Blacks, and for youth living in non-smoking
families. In this study, changes in smoking status over 24 months were assessed among 4,511 baseline never-smokers. The incidence
of smoking onset was 14.3% by 24 months with no differences by race/ethnicity. Blacks had higher exposure to movie smoking
and overall television viewing compared with Whites and Hispanics. Whites responded to movie smoking regardless of parent
smoking but more strongly if their parents were non-smokers. In contrast, Black adolescents showed little behavioral response
to any media, regardless of parent smoking. Hispanic adolescents responded only to TV viewing and only when their parents
did not smoke. In an analysis assessing the influence of the race of smoking characters on smoking behavior of White and Black
adolescents, Whites responded to both White and Black movie character smoking, whereas Blacks responded only to smoking by
Black movie characters. Taken as a whole, the findings replicate and extend previous findings, suggesting media factors are
more influential among adolescents at low to moderate overall risk for smoking. We draw analogies between these low-moderate
risk adolescents and “swing voters” in national elections, suggesting that media effects are more apt to influence an adolescent
in the middle of the risk spectrum, compared with his peers at either end of it.
national longitudinal multiethnic sample of U.S. adolescents. Previous research has demonstrated that associations between
media and smoking during adolescence are greater for Whites than Hispanics or Blacks, and for youth living in non-smoking
families. In this study, changes in smoking status over 24 months were assessed among 4,511 baseline never-smokers. The incidence
of smoking onset was 14.3% by 24 months with no differences by race/ethnicity. Blacks had higher exposure to movie smoking
and overall television viewing compared with Whites and Hispanics. Whites responded to movie smoking regardless of parent
smoking but more strongly if their parents were non-smokers. In contrast, Black adolescents showed little behavioral response
to any media, regardless of parent smoking. Hispanic adolescents responded only to TV viewing and only when their parents
did not smoke. In an analysis assessing the influence of the race of smoking characters on smoking behavior of White and Black
adolescents, Whites responded to both White and Black movie character smoking, whereas Blacks responded only to smoking by
Black movie characters. Taken as a whole, the findings replicate and extend previous findings, suggesting media factors are
more influential among adolescents at low to moderate overall risk for smoking. We draw analogies between these low-moderate
risk adolescents and “swing voters” in national elections, suggesting that media effects are more apt to influence an adolescent
in the middle of the risk spectrum, compared with his peers at either end of it.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-9
- DOI 10.1007/s11121-011-0244-3
- Authors
- Susanne E. Tanski, Department of Pediatrics, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA
- Mike Stoolmiller, Oregon Social Learning Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
- Meg Gerrard, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA
- James D. Sargent, Department of Pediatrics, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA
- Journal Prevention Science
- Online ISSN 1573-6695
- Print ISSN 1389-4986