New Publication by Cristel A. Russell, EURIAS 2017-2018

"When Do Public Health Epilogues Correct the Influence of Alcohol Storylines on Youth? The Interplay of Narrative Transportation and Persuasion Knowledge",

Cristel Antonia Russell (first author), Anne M. Hamby, Joel W. Grube, and Dale W. Russell W,

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.17.092

This research was funded by grant R01-AA016969 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the United States National Institutes of Health to the first author. The first author also benefited from a EURIAS fellowship at the Collegium of Lyon, France, co-funded by Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions under the European Union's Seventh Framework for research. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Government, the United States Department of Defense, or the Uniformed Services University.

Abstract

Youth drinking continues to present a major public health problem. Entertainment content that positively depicts alcohol consumption is often implicated as a factor in shaping youths' attitudes and beliefs about drinking alcohol. This research examines whether and under which conditions epilogues can counteract the influence of a television episode featuring positive consequences of drinking. Building on recent research that demonstrates how consumers' persuasion knowledge can increase acceptance of a message, this study finds that persuasion knowledge enhances receptivity to epilogues but only amongst viewers who are highly transported in the story. The research points to a promising approach to remedy the potentially harmful influence of a storyline depicting undesirable behaviors on a vulnerable population.

Keywords

Teenagers, Television Influence, Alcohol, Narrative Transportation, Persuasion Knowledge, Correction