Communicating with Sensation Seekers: An fMRI Study of Neural Responses to Antidrug Public Service Announcements.

This study examined the neural basis of processing high- and low-message sensation value (MSV) antidrug public service announcements (PSAs) in high (HSS) and low sensation seekers (LSS) using fMRI. HSS more strongly engaged the salience network when processing PSAs (versus LSS), suggesting that high-MSV PSAs attracted their attention. HSS and LSS participants who engaged higher level cognitive processing regions reported that the PSAs were more convincing and believable and recalled the PSAs better immediately after testing.

Programmatic research to increase the effectiveness of health communication campaigns.

This article reviews a long program of research designed to investigate ways to increase the effectiveness of televised antidrug public service announcements. The review highlights the importance of audience targeting (adolescent and young adult high sensation seekers) and message design (message sensation value) in campaign research. It also emphasizes the role of theory and evaluation in programmatic research.

Effects of a school-based, theory-driven HIV and pregnancy prevention curriculum.

Context: Although a number of interventions are effective at reducing risky adolescent sexual behavior, it may be possible to make them even more effective by addressing adolescents' approaches to risk-taking.

Methods: Schools were assigned to teach one of three curricula in a quasi-experimental intervention study: the school's standard pregnancy and HIV prevention curriculum; the Reducing the Risk curriculum; or a modified Reducing the Risk curriculum, adapted for high sensation seekers and impulsive decision makers. A sample of 1,944 students from 17 schools was surveyed at three time points between 1995 and 1997.

Effects of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Marijuana Initiative Campaign on high-sensation-seeking adolescents.

Objectives: We evaluated the effects of the Marijuana Initiative portion of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign on high-sensation-seeking and low-sensation-seeking adolescents.

Methods: Personal interviews were conducted via laptop computers with independent monthly random samples of 100 youths from the same age cohort in each of 2 moderate-sized communities over 48 months (April 1999-March 2003) of the campaign, including the critical first 6 months of the 9-month initiative. The start of the initiative was treated as an "interruption" in time-series analyses of the combined community sample.

Predictors of exposure from an antimarijuana media campaign: outcome research assessing sensation seeking targeting.

Using data from a large-scale antimarijuana media campaign, this investigation examined the demographic and psychographic variables associated with exposure to public service announcements designed to target high sensation-seeking adolescents. The literature on sensation seeking indicates that adolescents high in this trait are at greater risk for substance abuse. Analyses assessed the predictive utility of various risk and protective factors, normative influences, demographic variables, and marijuana-related attitudes, intentions, and behaviors on campaign message exposure.

Drug use prevention for the high sensation seeker: the role of alternative activities.

Research demonstrating links between sensation-seeking and drug use, and sensation-seeking and participation in leisure activities suggests designing substance misuse prevention projects that encourage substituting alternative activities for drug use. The current study uses factor analysis and discriminant analysis to provide comprehensive information on the kinds of activities high-sensation seekers participate in. Factor analysis of activity participation indicates an eight factor solution.

Television campaigns and adolescent marijuana use: tests of sensation seeking targeting.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of targeted televised public service announcement campaigns in reducing marijuana use among high-sensation-seeking adolescents.

Methods: The study used a controlled interrupted time-series design in 2 matched communities. Two televised antimarijuana campaigns were conducted in 1 county and 1 campaign in the comparison community.

Media and primary socialization theory.

This article discusses the role of media in the socialization process of adolescents, and supports the theory of primary socialization which identifies media as a secondary factor in the socialization process (as described in other articles in this series). Additionally, several models of information processing are presented which offer both a cognitive and affective model of processing communications. Finally, the article points to the need for future research to analyze the cases and implications of media's impact on adolescents when media serve as a primary, rather than a secondary, source of socialization.

Peer networks and sensation seeking: some implications for primary socialization theory.

This article draws on recent work in sensation seeking and peer influences in drug use prevention and considers some possible implications for primary socialization theory. A particular point of focus is a postulate of the theory that an individual's personal characteristics and personality traits do not directly relate to drug use and deviance but ordinarily influence those outcomes only when they affect interactions between the individual and the primary socialization sources. The article suggests a more broadly encompassing perspective which holds that socialization learning through the primary socialization sources gives people's lives direction; it may be the tugs of activation needs which provide impetus for the actions.

Jump start: a targeted substance abuse prevention program.

A substance abuse prevention and life skills program for economically disadvantaged, high sensation seeking African American teens was developed and tested in Cincinnati, Ohio. Formative research was conducted to determine program content and format. Over two implementations, 289 individuals in the target population were recruited as participants for the field test of the program.

Health communication in the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use.

Research on substance abuse prevention programs indicates that effectiveness is greater when multiple intervention approaches that address the specific vocabulary, perceptions, and values of the target population are employed. The field of health communication provides unique perspectives on media that can be applied to increase the salience and effectiveness of substance abuse prevention programs. Well-designed and well-delivered health communications have the capacity for reaching remote audiences, changing health attitudes and behavior, shaping social norms, changing the way health issues are portrayed by the popular media, and influencing decisions about legislation and policies.