Cannabis Users' and Non-Users' Differential Responses to Two Anti-Cannabis Campaigns.

Even though multiple states have approved legal recreational use of cannabis, the expansion of recreational cannabis legalization has led to public health concerns in the United States. Young adults (18-25 years old) have the highest percentage of cannabis use disorder compared to all other age groups. The purpose of this study is to compare cognitive and emotional responses of young adults who use cannabis and non-users to two anti-cannabis media campaigns that employed different message strategies.

Correlates of susceptibility to waterpipe tobacco smoking in young adults.

Introduction: Many US young adults are susceptible to waterpipe (i.e., hookah) tobacco smoking (WTS) initiation, but research on factors associated with WTS susceptibility is limited.

COVID-19 vaccine messaging for young adults: Examining framing, other-referencing, and health beliefs.

Objective: This study investigates the interaction between message framing and point-of-reference (self vs. others) for vaccine benefits on young adults' COVID-19 vaccine confidence and intentions. It also examines how COVID-19-related health beliefs-such as perceived severity of COVID-19 and perceived benefits of obtaining the vaccine to protect others-mediate these interactions.

An extension of the extended parallel process model to promote heart-healthy exercise behavior: An experimental study.

The prevalence of heart disease has increased and is a leading cause of death in the U.S. Despite the importance of physical activity, only one-third of adults in the United States meet the amount of physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Native Americans' Responses to Obesity Attributions and Message Sources in an Obesity Prevention Campaign.

This study investigated the effectiveness of Native American (NA) targeted obesity prevention messages. The researchers manipulated obesity attributions (internal vs. external) and message sources (NAs vs.

Messaging to prevent and reduce young adults' waterpipe tobacco smoking: A randomized trial.

Introduction: More than 10% of U.S. young adults have smoked waterpipe tobacco in the past month and >25% of those who have never smoked are susceptible.

How marijuana use status affects responses to anti-marijuana messages.

Background: The current study examined how cannabis use status impacts cognitive and emotional reactions to public health campaigns about cannabis, and the degree to which these reactions influence message likeability and attitudes about cannabis-related harms.

Methods: In a between-subjects design, 252 subjects recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk viewed six real-world cannabis education messages: three message themes (cognitive ability, driving, and health harms) from each of two real-world public campaigns. Subjects answered questions measuring their cognitive and emotional reactions to each message as well as message likeability and harm perceptions of cannabis.

Psychophysiological responses to hookah tobacco public education messages among young adults.

Objective: Hookah tobacco use among young adults may be driven by misperceptions of health harms and addictiveness, appealing flavors, and social use. This study examined the effects of hookah prevention messages on participants' cognitive and emotional processing in a lab setting.

Method: One hundred twenty participants (61 susceptible never-users, 59 current users) were exposed to messages representing six categories: health risks only, health risks of social use, health risks of flavors, addiction risks only, addiction risks of social use, and addiction risks of flavors.

Integrating Self-Report and Psychophysiological Measures in Waterpipe Tobacco Message Testing: A Novel Application of Multi-Attribute Decision Modeling.

Background: Waterpipe (i.e., hookah) tobacco smoking (WTS) is one of the most prevalent types of smoking among young people, yet there is little public education communicating the risks of WTS to the population.

Cognitive and affective responses to marijuana prevention and educational messaging.

Background: Perceptions of risk of using marijuana have decreased significantly in the US over the last decade, while marijuana use has increased. In order to educate people on the risks associated with marijuana use, large-scale health messaging campaigns have been deployed to educate the public about the risks associated with marijuana use, particularly in states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal. Few studies have examined how messages about marijuana affect the audiences' cognitive and emotional responsivity to these messages.

People in E-Cigarette Ads Attract More Attention: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Objectives: Minimally regulated electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette) advertising may be one potential factor driving the increasing prevalence of young adult e-cigarette use. Using eye-tracking, the current study examined which e-cigarette advertising features were the most appealing to young adults as a first step to examine how e-cigarette advertising may be regulated.

Methods: Using a within-subjects design, 30 young adults ( = 20.

Associations Between Exposure to The Real Cost Campaign, Pro-Tobacco Advertisements, and Tobacco Use Among Youth in the U.S.

Introduction: E-cigarette use is rising among youth. Advertising and anti-tobacco campaigns may be associated with the use of E-cigarettes and other tobacco products. This study examines the associations between tobacco use and exposure to The Real Cost's first campaign focusing on E-cigarettes.

Development and Pretesting of Hookah Tobacco Public Education Messages for Young Adults.

Young adults' hookah tobacco use is fueled by misperceptions about risks, appealing flavors, and social use. We developed and pretested public education messages to prevent and reduce hookah tobacco smoking among young adults. We used a two (user status: current hookah user, susceptible never user) by two (risk content: health harms or addiction) by three (message theme: harms/addiction risk alone, harms/addiction risk flavors, or harms/addiction risk social use) design with two messages/condition ( = 12 total messages).

Perceived Effectiveness of Anti-Marijuana Messages in Adult Users and Nonusers: An Examination of Responses to Messages About Marijuana's Effects on Cognitive Performance, Driving, and Health.

Objective: Marijuana use is associated with negative cognitive and health outcomes and risky driving. Given the rapidly changing policies regarding legal recreational and medicinal marijuana use, it is important to examine what types of marijuana prevention messages may be effective in minimizing such outcomes. This study examined cognitive and affective responses to anti-marijuana public health messages in a sample of adult marijuana users and nonusers to determine the correlates of perceived message effectiveness.

The Attitudinal and Motivational Effects of Anti-waterpipe Messages.

Waterpipe smoking can lead to negative health outcomes. In this study, we examined responses to anti-waterpipe smoking public service announcements (PSAs). In a pilot study, current waterpipe smokers (N = 20) and susceptible waterpipe never smokers (N = 25) were randomized to view either 3 anti-waterpipe PSAs, created by the campaign, or 3 control videos.

Smoking Status Matters: A Direct Comparison of Smokers' and Nonsmokers' Psychophysiological and Self-Report Responses to Secondhand Smoke Anti-Tobacco PSAs.

Extensive research demonstrates that exposure to threatening anti-tobacco messages can lead to defensive message processing which reduces message effectiveness. However, research investigating whether this effect is moderated by the smoking status of the message viewer is lacking. In this study, participants (N = 48 smokers and N = 51 non-smokers) viewed and rated secondhand smoke anti-tobacco messages depicting both smoking cues and threat content, or messages depicting neither while heart rate, skin conductance, and facial EMG were recorded.

Deceived, Disgusted, and Defensive: Motivated Processing of Anti-Tobacco Advertisements.

A 2 × 2 experiment was conducted, where participants watched anti-tobacco messages that varied in deception (content portraying tobacco companies as dishonest) and disgust (negative graphic images) content. Psychophysiological measures, self-report, and a recognition test were used to test hypotheses generated from the motivated cognition framework. The results of this study indicate that messages containing both deception and disgust push viewers into a cascade of defensive responses reflected by increased self-reported unpleasantness, reduced resources allocated to encoding, worsened recognition memory, and dampened emotional responses compared to messages depicting one attribute or neither.

Countering Craving with Disgust Images: Examining Nicotine Withdrawn Smokers' Motivated Message Processing of Anti-Tobacco Public Service Announcements.

There is a lack of research examining whether smoking cues in anti-tobacco advertisements elicit cravings, or whether this effect is moderated by countervailing message attributes, such as disgusting images. Furthermore, no research has examined how these types of messages influence nicotine withdrawn smokers' cognitive processing and associated behavioral intentions. At a laboratory session, participants (N = 50 nicotine-deprived adults) were tested for cognitive processing and recognition memory of 12 anti-tobacco advertisements varying in depictions of smoking cues and disgust content.

Discard the Smoking Cues-Keep the Disgust: An Investigation of Tobacco Smokers' Motivated Processing of Anti-tobacco Commercials.

This study experimentally examines the effect of smoking cues and disgust images commonly found in anti-tobacco advertisements on tobacco smokers' message processing. In a 2 (smoking cues) × 2 (disgust) within-subjects experiment, smokers watched anti-tobacco advertisements selected to vary in presence/absence of smoking cues and high/low ratings of disgust. The results of the experiment suggest that smoking cues and disgust images each have effects on resource allocation, recognition memory, emotional responses, smoking urges, and intentions to quit smoking.

Individual and social determinants of obesity in strategic health messages: Interaction with political ideology.

Antiobesity health communication campaigns often target individual behavior, but these ads might inflate the role of individual responsibility at the expense of other health determinants. In a 2 × 2 full-factorial, randomized, online experiment, 162 American adults viewed antiobesity advertisements that varied in emphasizing social or individual causation for obesity through text and images. Locus for attribution of responsibility for obesity causes and solutions was measured, as was how these responses were moderated by political ideology.

The Role of Narrative and Other-Referencing in Attenuating Psychological Reactance to Diabetes Self-Care Messages.

This study charts pathways through message resistance to enhance the persuasiveness of diabetes self-care messages. A 2 (narrative) × 2 (other-referencing) × 2 (message) × 4 (order) experiment with adult diabetics (N = 58) tested whether packaging overt recommendations as a story rather than an informational argument (i.e.

Scare' em or disgust 'em: the effects of graphic health promotion messages.

This study experimentally tested the effects of 2 types of content commonly found in anti-tobacco television messages-content focused on communicating a health threat about tobacco use (fear) and content containing disgust-related images-on how viewers processed these messages. In a 2 x 2 within-subjects experiment, participants watched anti-tobacco television ads that varied in the amount of fear and disgust content. The results of this study suggest that both fear and disgust content in anti-tobacco television ads have significant effects on resources allocated to encoding the messages and on recognition memory.

The effects of frame, appeal, and outcome extremity of antismoking messages on cognitive processing.

Research on the impact of antismoking advertisements in countermarketing cigarette advertising is equivocal. Although many studies examined how different message appeal types influence people's attitudes and behavior, there have been few studies that have explored the mechanism of how individuals attend to and remember antismoking information. This study examined how message attributes of antismoking TV ads (frame, appeal type, and outcome extremity) interacted to influence people's attention (secondary task reaction time) and memory (recognition).