Autumn Shafer

Relation between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and US preschoolers’ social and emotional development

Abstract This study explored the relationship between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and key indicators of preschoolers’ social and emotional development. One hundred and twenty-seven children aged 2–6 either watched or did not watch 10 episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood over a two-week period. Results revealed that preschoolers who watched the program exhibited higher levels of empathy, self-efficacy, and emotion recognition when their regular TV-watching experiences are frequently accompanied by active mediation. This was especially true for younger preschoolers and preschoolers from low-income families. Implications for policy-makers, parents, producers of prosocial programming, and educators are discussed.

Corporate Crisis Communication: Examining the Interplay of Reputation and Crisis Response Strategies

This experiment study used a 2 × 3 between-subjects design to assess two factors in crisis communication and reputation management—prior corporate reputation (good and bad) and crisis response strategies (apology, sympathy, and compensation)—on an organization facing high crisis responsibility. Results indicate that stakeholders prefer apology to compensation response strategies. Organizations with a prior good reputation have better postcrisis reviews that those with a prior bad reputation. Crisis managers facing crises that generate high attribution of crisis responsibility and anger are advised to rely on apology rather than compensation strategy. It would also be advantageous for an organization with prior good reputation to highlight its past achievements when responding to a crisis.

Narrative Exemplars and the Celebrity Spokesperson in Lebanese Anti-Domestic Violence Public Service Announcements.

Domestic violence is a worldwide epidemic. This study examines the effects of narrative exemplars and a celebrity spokesperson in anti-domestic violence ads on Lebanese college students’ attitudes and beliefs towards domestic violence and whether these effects are impacted by personal experience. The practical significance is derived from the high prevalence of domestic violence internationally, making it important to find ways to effectively use media to address this health-related issue that has huge consequences for the individual and society. This study adds to the theoretical understanding of narrative persuasion and media effects. Results indicated that narrative exemplars in anti-domestic violence ads promoting bystander awareness and intervention were more beneficial for people without relevant experience compared to people who know someone affected by domestic violence. Anti-domestic violence ads without narrative exemplars, but that also featured an emotional self-efficacy appeal targeting bystanders, were more effective for participants who know someone who had experienced domestic violence compared to participants without relevant experience. The presence of a celebrity spokesperson elicited more positive attitudes about the ad than a noncelebrity, but failed to directly affect relevant anti-domestic violence attitudes or beliefs. These results highlight the significance of formative audience research in health communication message design.

The Role of Hypermasculinity, Token Resistance, Rape Myth, and Assertive Sexual Consent Communication Among College Men

PURPOSE A greater understanding of how college mens gendered beliefs and communication styles relate to their sexual consent attitudes and intentions is essential within the shifting context of negative to affirmative consent policies on college campuses. The results of this study can be used to help design more effective sexual consent interventions. METHODS Three hundred seventy undergraduate college men completed cross-sectional online surveys. Hierarchical multiple regression examined how hypermasculinity, token resistance, rape myth acceptance, and sexual communication assertiveness were associated with consent-related attitudes, intentions, and interpretations. RESULTS Bivariate correlations among all variables were significant. In multivariate analyses, sexual communication assertiveness was positively associated with all consent outcomes, and token resistance and rape myth acceptance were negatively associated with some. Hypermasculinity was not a significant factor. CONCLUSIONS Programs seeking to improve sexual consent communication among college men should reduce destructive beliefs and encourage sexually assertive communication.

Evaluating the Ability of the PBS Children’s Show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to Teach Skills to Two Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is a children’s television show incorporating many elements of video modeling, an intervention that can teach skills to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study evaluated the impact of watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood episodes on the accurate performance of trying new foods and stopping play politely with two five-year-old children with ASD. Both children showed improved performance of skills only following exposure to episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, suggesting that watching episodes can help children with ASD learn specific skills.

Victim Profiles: Direct and Indirect Effects of Anecdotes and Responsibility Attribution on Support for Sex Trafficking Victims

ABSTRACT Anti-sex trafficking advocates often rely on victim stories or profiles to spread awareness and support for sex trafficking victims. Yet little research has examined the effects of these profiles present in media. A 2 (narrative exemplar (anecdote)/non-anecdote) × 2 (victim kidnapped/groomed) between-subjects factorial design experiment with undergraduates (N = 109) examined the impact of victim profiles on mediator variables (i.e., identification, similarity, vulnerability, and victim blaming) and outcome variables (i.e., awareness, support for victim services, and supportive intentions). Significant indirect effects indicated that vulnerability often positively mediated the relationship between profile type and outcome variable, whereas victim blaming negatively mediated that same relationship. This study suggests there may be contexts where unintended effects of victim profiles should be further examined through theoretical lenses and confirms the need to further educate the public about the equity of victim circumstances through media.

Applying the Health Belief Model and an Integrated Behavioral Model to Promote Breast Tissue Donation Among Asian Americans

ABSTRACT An important part in the effort to prevent, treat, and cure breast cancer is research done with healthy breast tissue. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank at Indiana University Simon Cancer Center (KTB) encourages women to donate a small amount of healthy breast tissue and then provides that tissue to researchers studying breast cancer. Although KTB has a large donor base, the volume of tissue samples from Asian women is low despite prior marketing efforts to encourage donation among this population. This study builds on prior work promoting breast cancer screenings among Asian women by applying constructs from the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to investigate why Asian-American women are less inclined to donate their healthy breast tissue than non-Asian women and how this population may be motivated to donate in the future. A national online survey (N = 1,317) found Asian women had significantly lower perceived severity, some lower perceived benefits, and higher perceived barriers to tissue donation than non-Asian women under HBM and significantly lower injunctive norms supporting breast tissue donation, lower perceived behavioral control, and lower intentions to donate under IBM. This study also compares and discusses similarities and differences among East, Southeast, and South Asian women on these same constructs.

Development and Evaluation of a Social Media Health Intervention to Improve Adolescents’ Knowledge About and Vaccination Against the Human Papillomavirus:

This study describes the formative research, execution, and evaluation of a social media health intervention to improve adolescents’ knowledge about and vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV). Based on the results from formative focus groups with adolescents (N = 38) to determine intervention feasibility, parameters, and message preferences, we developed and conducted a pretest/posttest evaluation of a 3-month social media health intervention for adolescents who had not completed the HPV vaccine series (N = 108). Results revealed that adolescents who fully engaged with the intervention improved in their knowledge compared with a control group, and many were also likely to have interpersonal discussions with others about what they learned. Adolescents are generally interested in receiving information about HPV and the vaccine, along with other relevant health information, through social media channels if messages are considered interesting, their privacy is protected, and the source is credible.