Exposure to violence across multiple contexts and health risk behaviours in South African adolescents: the moderating role of emotion dysregulation.

The association between violence exposure and health risk behaviours in South African adolescents, and the moderating role of emotion dysregulation were investigated. A multi-ethnic sample of adolescents ( = 925: boy: 47.3%, girl: 52.

Violence Exposure in South African Adolescents: Differential and Cumulative Effects on Psychological Functioning.

This study examined the associations between different types of violence victimization and psychological functioning in South African adolescents. Both differential and cumulative effects of violence were investigated. A multi-ethnic (Black, White, people of mixed heritage, and people of Indian/Asian descent) sample of adolescents in secondary schools in the Western Cape Province ( = 1,574; boys = 46.

ERPs Reveal Disengagement Processes Related to Condom Use Embarrassment in Intention-Behavior Inconsistent Young Adults.

The use of barrier protections such as condoms has consistently been reported to reduce the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections. However, it has also been reported that the association between condom use intentions and behavior is, at best, often weak. Furthermore, embarrassment associated with purchasing condoms and negotiating their use has been shown to negatively impact the frequency of condom use.

Ignoring theory and misinterpreting evidence: the false belief in fear appeals.

Use of fear appeals assumes that when people are emotionally confronted with the negative effects of their behaviour they will change that behaviour. That reasoning is simple and intuitive, but only true under specific, rare circumstances. Risk perception theories predict that if people will experience a threat, they want to counter that threat.

Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels.

Current warning labels on cigarette packages are generally focused on long-term losses that can be incurred if one continues smoking. This study compares the effects of these labels against warning labels that stress short-term losses of smoking as well as labels that stress short- and long-term benefits that can be obtained when one quits smoking. A 2 (message frame: gain vs.

Attentional effects of self-affirmation in response to graphic antismoking images.

Objective: Self-affirmation has been shown to reduce defensive responding to threatening information. However, little is known about the cognitive and attentional processes underlying these effects. In the current eye-movement study, the authors explored whether self-affirmation affects attention allocation (i.

Neuroscientific evidence for defensive avoidance of fear appeals.

Previous studies indicate that people respond defensively to threatening health information, especially when the information challenges self-relevant goals. The authors investigated whether reduced acceptance of self-relevant health risk information is already visible in early attention allocation processes. In two experimental studies, participants were watching high- and low-threat health commercials, and at the same time had to pay attention to specific odd auditory stimuli in a sequence of frequent auditory stimuli (odd ball paradigm).

Sixty years of fear appeal research: current state of the evidence.

Fear arousal is widely used in persuasive campaigns and behavioral change interventions. Yet, experimental evidence argues against the use of threatening health information. The authors reviewed the current state of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of fear appeals.

Eye movement responses to health messages on cigarette packages.

Background: While the majority of the health messages on cigarette packages contain threatening health information, previous studies indicate that risk information can trigger defensive reactions, especially when the information is self-relevant (i.e., smokers).

The effects of tailored and threatening nutrition information on message attention. Evidence from an event-related potential study.

Recent evidence indicates that attention is higher for individually tailored as compared to non-tailored health communications. The present study examined whether the predicted increased attention for the tailored as opposed to general nutrition education messages is moderated by presenting high vs. low threat information about the negative consequences of an unhealthy diet.

Increased attention but more efficient disengagement: neuroscientific evidence for defensive processing of threatening health information.

Objective: Previous studies indicate that people respond defensively to threatening health information, especially when the information challenges self-relevant goals. The authors investigated whether reduced acceptance of self-relevant health risk information is already visible in early attention processes, that is, attention disengagement processes.

Design: In a randomized, controlled trial with 29 smoking and nonsmoking students, a variant of Posner's cueing task was used in combination with the high-temporal resolution method of event-related brain potentials (ERPs).

Understanding the positive effects of graphical risk information on comprehension: measuring attention directed to written, tabular, and graphical risk information.

Risk communications are an integral aspect of health education and promotion. However, the commonly used textual risk information is relatively difficult to understand for the average recipient. Consequently, researchers and health promoters have started to focus on so-called decision aids, such as tables and graphs.

Increased attention for computer-tailored health communications: an event-related potential study.

The authors tested whether individually tailored health communications receive more attention from the reader than nontailored health communications in a randomized, controlled trial among student volunteers (N = 24). They used objective measures of attention allocation during the message exposure. In a between-subjects design, participants had to read tailored or nontailored nutrition education messages and at the same time had to pay attention to specific odd auditory stimuli in a sequence of frequent auditory stimuli (odd ball paradigm).