Hanneke Hendriks

Talking about alcohol consumption: health campaigns, conversational valence, and binge drinking intentions

OBJECTIVES Although research has shown that whether people talk about health issues influences health campaign effects, no evidence exists on whether conversational valence fulfils a mediating role within health campaign effects. In the context of alcohol consumption, this two-wave experimental research studies the effects of exposure to an anti-alcohol message on conversational valence about alcohol. Further, it investigates whether valence subsequently affects alcohol consumption intentions. DESIGN Eighty-four undergraduate students, in dyads, were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (anti-alcohol message vs. no alcohol message exposure). METHODS A baseline measure of the intention to refrain from binge drinking was assessed in advance. Two weeks later, half of the participants were exposed to an anti-alcohol message, after which all pairs engaged in a conversation about alcohol and binge drinking followed by an assessment of conversational valence and again the intention to refrain from binge drinking. RESULTS An indirect effect of health message exposure on the intention to refrain from binge drinking through conversational valence was revealed. When participants viewed an anti-alcohol message, they reported significantly more negative conversations about alcohol. Subsequently, a more negative conversational valence about alcohol increased the intention to refrain from binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that conversational valence is relevant for health campaign effects. By demonstrating that health messages can influence this valence, important implications arise in terms of health promotion. Future research should focus on how to design effective health campaigns that are able to guide conversational valence in the desired direction.

Predicting Health: The Interplay Between Interpersonal Communication and Health Campaigns

The present study experimentally investigated the interplay between interpersonal communication and health message exposure in relation to alcohol consumption intentions. Participants were 174 students who took part in a study on the effects of an antialcohol message. At baseline, the authors assessed intention to refrain from binge drinking. At the second wave (2 weeks later), participants were assigned to the conditions of a 2 (antialcohol message or no-alcohol message) × 2 (alcohol conversation or control conversation) between-subjects design, after which intention was again assessed. Results showed that when participants talked about alcohol (instead of the control topic) and were not exposed to an antialcohol message, they were less inclined to refrain from binge drinking, an effect that was not visible when participants talked about alcohol after viewing an antialcohol message. These findings suggest that health campaign exposure moderates the influence of interpersonal communication on health variables.

Changing the Conversation: The Influence of Emotions on Conversational Valence and Alcohol Consumption

Health campaign effects may be improved by taking interpersonal communication processes into account. The current study, which employed an experimental, pretest–posttest, randomized exposure design (N = 208), investigated whether the emotions induced by anti-alcohol messages influence conversational valence about alcohol and subsequent persuasion outcomes. The study produced three main findings. First, an increase in the emotion fear induced a negative conversational valence about alcohol. Second, fear was most strongly induced by a disgusting message, whereas a humorous appeal induced the least fear. Third, a negative conversational valence elicited healthier binge drinking attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, and behaviors. Thus, health campaign planners and health researchers should pay special attention to the emotional characteristics of health messages and should focus on inducing a healthy conversational valence.

Subjective Reality: The Influence of Perceived and Objective Conversational Valence on Binge Drinking Determinants

Previous studies have shown that interpersonal communication, and particularly perceived conversational valence (i.e., the perceived negativity or positivity of conversations) about health topics, influences health determinants. On the basis of 43 dyads (N = 86) discussing the topic of alcohol consumption, this study is the first to show that whereas perceived and objective conversational valence are positively related, only perceived conversational valence is a significant predictor of binge drinking attitudes and intentions. Thus, subjective reality matters more than objective reality. Furthermore, only the perceived valence of the participants’ own contributions—and not of their conversation partners—influences binge drinking intentions, indicating that self-persuasion is more influential than persuasion by others. Thus, conversations in which discussants themselves express negative opinions about unhealthy behaviors can enhance public health.

Social drinking on social media: Content analysis of the social aspects of alcohol-related posts on Facebook and Instagram

Background Alcohol is often consumed in social contexts. An emerging social context in which alcohol is becoming increasingly apparent is social media. More and more young people display alcohol-related posts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Objective Considering the importance of the social aspects of alcohol consumption and social media use, this study investigated the social content of alcohol posts (ie, the evaluative social context and presence of people) and social processes (ie, the posting of and reactions to posts) involved with alcohol posts on social networking sites. Methods Participants (N=192; mean age 20.64, SD 4.68 years, 132 women and 54 men) gave researchers access to their Facebook and/or Instagram profiles, and an extensive content analysis of these profiles was conducted. Coders were trained and then coded all screenshotted timelines in terms of evaluative social context, presence of people, and reactions to post. Results Alcohol posts of youth frequently depict alcohol in a positive social context (425/438, 97.0%) and display people holding drinks (277/412, 67.2%). In addition, alcohol posts were more often placed on participants’ timelines by others (tagging; 238/439, 54.2%) than posted by participants themselves (201/439, 45.8%). Furthermore, it was revealed that such social posts received more likes (mean 35.50, SD 26.39) and comments than nonsocial posts (no people visible; mean 10.34, SD 13.19, P<.001). Conclusions In terms of content and processes, alcohol posts on social media are social in nature and a part of young people’s everyday social lives. Interventions aiming to decrease alcohol posts should therefore focus on the broad social context of individuals in which posting about alcohol takes place. Potential intervention strategies could involve making young people aware that when they post about social gatherings in which alcohol is visible and tag others, it may have unintended negative consequences and should be avoided.

Online and offline conversations about alcohol: Comparing the effects of familiar and unfamiliar discussion partners

Although research has demonstrated that interpersonal communication about alcohol influences drinking behaviors, this notion has mainly been examined in offline contexts with familiar conversation partners. The present study investigated how communication mode and familiarity influence conversational valence (i.e., how negatively or positively people talk) and binge drinking norms. During a 2 (offline vs. online communication) × 2 (unfamiliar vs. familiar conversation partner) lab experiment, participants (N = 76) were exposed to an anti–binge drinking campaign, after which they discussed binge drinking and the campaign. Binge drinking norms were measured 1 week before and directly after the discussion. Results revealed that conversations between unfamiliar conversation partners were positive about the campaign, especially in offline settings, subsequently leading to healthier binge drinking norms. We recommend that researchers further investigate the influence of communication mode and familiarity on discussion effects, and we suggest that health promotion attempts might benefit from eliciting conversations about anti–binge drinking campaigns between unfamiliar persons.

What do Dutch college students talk about when they talk about alcohol

OBJECTIVES: Interpersonal communication about alcohol influences alcohol consumption, yet evidence is scarce about the content and valence of alcohol-related conversations and how these concepts predict alcohol consumption. METHODS: By employing a correlational design among Dutch undergraduate students (N = 133), this study measured alcohol consumption predictors and conversational valence and occurrence regarding three topics (personal alcohol-related experiences; alcohol-related experiences of others; and alcohol-related media messages). RESULTS: Results showed that people talk more often and more positively about (personal) alcohol-related experiences than about alcohol-related media messages. In contrast to media messages, whether and how positively people talk about alcohol-related experiences was related to several alcohol consumption determinants. CONCLUSIONS: Health promotion attempts should elicit negative conversations about alcohol-related experiences, thereby resulting in more healthy alcohol consumption predictors. Language: en

Is It More Feeling or Thinking? The Influence of Affective and Cognitive Attitude on Adolescents’ Intention to Engage in Binge Drinking

Previous work has revealed that interventions aiming to reduce adolescent binge drinking commonly focus on cognitive attitudes, but are insufficiently effective in changing binge-drinking intentions. The focus on these cognitive attitudes might be the reason for this insufficient success. That is, other work has revealed that affective attitudes have a stronger influence on binge-drinking intention than cognitive attitudes. However, this relation has so far only been found among traditional college students and pre-vocational school students, therewith neglecting another important population at risk, namely vocational community college students. This study examines whether affective attitudes are also significantly stronger influencers of binge-drinking intentions among vocational community college students. Using a sample of 298 vocational community college students (Mage = 17.63), the current study shows that affective attitudes were more strongly related to vocational community college students’ intention to engage in binge drinking than cognitive attitudes. This finding indicates that the effectiveness of interventions targeting adolescent binge drinking can be improved by incorporating content elements concerning affective attitudes.