Robert McKeever

Does Reactance against Cigarette Warning Labels Matter? Warning Label Responses and Downstream Smoking Cessation amongst Adult Smokers in Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States

Objective Some researchers have raised concerns that pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) on cigarette packages may lead to message rejection and reduced effectiveness of HWL messages. This study aimed to determine how state reactance (i.e., negative affect due to perceived manipulation) in response to both pictorial and text-only HWLs is associated with other types of HWL responses and with subsequent cessation attempts. Methods Survey data were collected every 4 months between September 2013 and 2014 from online panels of adult smokers in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the US were analyzed. Participants with at least one wave of follow-up were included in the analysis (n = 4,072 smokers; 7,459 observations). Surveys assessed psychological and behavioral responses to HWLs (i.e., attention to HWLs, cognitive elaboration of risks due to HWLs, avoiding HWLs, and forgoing cigarettes because of HWLs) and cessation attempts. Participants then viewed specific HWLs from their countries and were queried about affective state reactance. Logistic and linear Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models regressed each of the psychological and behavioral HWL responses on reactance, while controlling for socio-demographic and smoking-related variables. Logistic GEE models also regressed having attempted to quit by the subsequent survey on reactance, each of the psychological and behavioral HWL responses (analyzed separately), adjustment variables. Data from all countries were initially pooled, with interactions between country and reactance assessed; when interactions were statistically significant, country-stratified models were estimated. Results Interactions between country and reactance were found in all models that regressed psychological and behavioral HWL responses on study variables. In the US, stronger reactance was associated with more frequent reading of HWLs and thinking about health risks. Smokers from all four countries with stronger reactance reported greater likelihood of avoiding warnings and forgoing cigarettes due to warnings, although the association appeared stronger in the US. Both stronger HWLs responses and reactance were positively associated with subsequent cessation attempts, with no significant interaction between country and reactance. Conclusions Reactance towards HWLs does not appear to interfere with quitting, which is consistent with its being an indicator of concern, not a systematic effort to avoid HWL message engagement.

Vicarious Experience: Experimentally Testing the Effects of Empathy for Media Characters with Severe Depression and the Intervening Role of Perceived Similarity

Informed by the findings in prior research, the current study experimentally tested the effects of empathy responses to different types of media characters on attitudes and support for people with depression. In a between-subjects experiment, participants (N = 80) were assigned to one of three conditions. Participants in the first condition read an article about a high-similarity character with severe depression, those in the second condition read an article about a low-similarity character with severe depression, and those in the control group did not read an article. Participants in all three conditions were then shown a stimulus website for a faux peer-support organization. The results indicated that the level of empathic responses, positive attitudes, and the likelihood of joining the organization and engaging in supportive behaviors increased for those who read about a socially similar person with depression.

Silent Majority: Childhood Vaccinations and Antecedents to Communicative Action

The topic of childhood vaccinations has received much news media attention recently, prompting scholars to examine how the public has responded. In light of this news, and the deep divide that seems to exist between parents who support childhood vaccinations and those who do not, this study examines how and why individuals may involve themselves in communication about vaccinations, particularly on social media or in other online environments. Focusing on the concept of communicative action and drawing from spiral of silence and other research, a survey of mothers (N = 455) found that those who do not support childhood vaccinations are more likely to engage in communication about the issue, including information seeking, attending, forefending, permitting, forwarding, and sharing. In addition, issue importance and affective and cognitive involvement help drive communicative action regarding childhood vaccinations, which could affect public opinion or public perceptions of the issue. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Moms and Media: Exploring the Effects of Online Communication on Infant Feeding Practices.

ABSTRACT Using a survey of mothers with young children (N = 455), this study applies Fishbein and Ajzen’s reasoned action approach (RAA) to examine the relationship between online communication and infant feeding practices. Contrary to expectations, attitudes, perceived normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) did not fully mediate the relationship between time spent online and behavioral intentions. Our findings indicate a significant, direct, negative association between time spent online and breastfeeding intentions In this article, theoretical and practical implications for health communication are discussed.

From Social Media to Mainstream News: The Information Flow of the Vaccine-Autism Controversy in the US, Canada, and the UK

ABSTRACT Despite increasing warnings about inaccurate information online, little is known about how social media contribute to the widespread diffusion of unverified health information. This study addresses this issue by examining the vaccine-autism controversy. By looking into a large dataset of Twitter, Reddit posts, and online news over 20 months in the US, Canada, and the UK, our time-series analysis shows that Twitter drives news agendas, and Reddit follows news agendas regarding the vaccine-autism debate. Additionally, the results show that both Twitter and Reddit are more likely to discuss the vaccine-autism link compared to online news content.

Speaking up Online: Exploring Hostile Media Perception, Health Behavior, and Other Antecedents of Communication:

This study explores the influence of hostile media perception (HMP) and other antecedents to mothers’ willingness to speak up regarding the issue of breastfeeding, particularly in online environments. An online survey of mothers (N = 455) revealed that mothers are more likely to express opinions about breastfeeding online, and also with friends and family, if they consider media coverage of the issue biased or hostile. In addition, as hypothesized, the personality trait of outspokenness influences mothers’ willingness to speak up and mediates the effect of HMP on communication, although there were conditional effects based on mothers’ past breastfeeding behaviors. Implications are discussed.

The Andrea Yates Effect: Priming Mental Illness Stereotypes Through Exemplification of Postpartum Disorders

ABSTRACT In a randomized between-subjects design, participants (N = 80) were assigned to one of four conditions, 2 (pregnant, not pregnant) × 2 (extreme prime, moderate prime). It was hypothesized that primes involving moderate mental illness would be positively associated with increased perceived risk of developing postpartum depression. Hayes and Preacher’s bootstrapping procedure was used to test the direct, indirect, and conditional indirect effects related to the hypothesized model. In addition, further analyses evaluated whether implicitly activated goals (to be healthy or to be a good mother) were positively associated with increased perceptions of risk and engagement of downstream avoidance behavioral intentions. Findings show that for pregnant participants, the effect of the prime condition on perceived personal risk of developing postpartum depression was mediated by perceptions about the target character’s sanity. However, activated “healthy” and “good mother” goals are not influencing behavioral intentions.

An Exploratory Survey of Older Women’s Post-Fall Decisions

This research examined factors influencing older women’s post-fall decision making. We surveyed 130 independent older women from continuing care retirement communities and non-institutional homes. We categorized women’s post-fall decisions as medical, corrective, and social decisions, and examined the associations between post-fall decision categories, decisional conflict, number of post-fall changes, self-rated health, frequency of falls, severity of falls, health literacy, awareness and openness to long-term care institutional options, and demographics. Older women experienced greater decisional conflict when making medical decisions versus social (p = .012) and corrective (p = .047) decisions. Significant predictors of post-fall decisional conflict were awareness of institutional care options (p = .001) and health literacy (p = .001). Future educational interventions should address knowledge deficits and provide resources to enhance collaborative efforts to lower women’s post-fall decisional conflict and increase satisfaction in the decisions they make after a fall.

Smoke Gets in Their Eyes? Third-Person Effects of Electronic Cigarette Advertising

ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between smoker status and attitudes toward e-cigarette usage, third-person perceptions of e-cigarette advertising, and support for regulation of e-cigarette advertising within the context of a media-saturated environment. Survey results (n = 615) indicated that participants perceived e-cigarette advertisements as having a more powerful effect on others than on themselves and that nonsmokers perceived this more strongly than did smokers. Nonsmokers were found to have more negative attitudes toward e-cigarette use than smokers. Mediation analysis indicated support for a serial indirect effect of smoker status on support for regulation through attitudes toward e-cigarettes and third-person perceptions.

Colleagues in Training: How Senior Faculty View Doctoral Education

A survey of 241 full professors in journalism and mass communication were asked their views on doctoral education. Results indicated that the expected number of publications students should generate from their dissertations was positively correlated with the number of publications professors produced from their own dissertations, supporting the notion that mentoring involves passing on the behaviors that professors learned as graduate students themselves. The data also revealed that respondents tended to think of students as “colleagues in training” rather than simply as graduate assistants to help with the professors’ own work. Results also showed that those with a PhD believed a terminal degree was more important for journalism faculty than significant work experience in journalism, which further supports the idea of mentees following in their mentors’ footsteps.