Watching and drinking: Expectancies, prototypes, and friends’ alcohol use mediate the effect of exposure to alcohol use in movies on adolescent drinking.
- 1 July 2009
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Health Psychology
- Vol. 28 (4), 473-483
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014777
Abstract
To investigate the psychological processes that underlie the relation between exposure to alcohol use in media and adolescent alcohol use. The design consisted of a structural equation modeling analysis of data from four waves of a longitudinal, nationally representative, random-digit dial telephone survey of adolescents in the United States. The main outcome measures were adolescent alcohol consumption and willingness to use alcohol. Tested mediators were alcohol-related norms, prototypes, expectancies, and friends' use. Alcohol prototypes, expectancies, willingness, and friends' use of alcohol (but not perceived prevalence of alcohol use among peers) were significant mediators of the relation between movie alcohol exposure and alcohol consumption, even after controlling for demographic, child, and family factors associated with both movie exposure and alcohol consumption. Established psychological and interpersonal predictors of alcohol use mediate the effects of exposure to alcohol use in movies on adolescent alcohol consumption. The findings suggest that exposure to movie portrayals may operate through similar processes as other social influences, highlighting the importance of considering these exposures in research on adolescent risk behavior.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institutes of Health (AA01559; CA77026)
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Youth exposure to alcohol use and brand appearances in popular contemporary moviesAddiction, 2008
- Smoking in Movies, Implicit Associations of Smoking With the Self, and Intentions to SmokePsychological Science, 2007
- R-Rated Movies, Bedroom Televisions, and Initiation of Smoking by White and Black AdolescentsArchives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2007
- A theory-based dual-focus alcohol intervention for preadolescents: The Strong African american Families program.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2006
- Alcohol use in motion pictures and its relation with early-onset teen drinking.Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2006
- Confidence Limits for the Indirect Effect: Distribution of the Product and Resampling MethodsMultivariate Behavioral Research, 2004
- Prevalence estimates and adolescent risk behavior: Cross-cultural differences in social influence.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1995
- Differential Influence of Parental Smoking and Friends' Smoking on Adolescent Initiation and Escalation and SmokingJournal of Health and Social Behavior, 1994
- RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS FOR ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENCE AND EARLY ADULTHOOD - IMPLICATIONS FOR SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTIONPsychological Bulletin, 1992
- Cognitive motivation and drug use: A 9-year longitudinal study.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1991