Effects of viewing anti-smoking content

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content through various media outlets on student smokers Desmond Sellman Sean Langston, Jr. North Carolina State University

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content Introduction Whether it is television, radio, Internet, newspapers or magazines, there are

numerous media forms available in todays society. However, no matter the medium, many have argued that there is a form of transaction taking place between viewers and the media outlets. As a society surrounded by so many media outlets on a daily basis, we have a different level of exposure compared to that of previous generations and as a result, we tend to mimic and turn many of these depictions and into realities in our very own lives. These actions can be positive, but sometimes theyre negative. In fact, many people argue that violence and other unlawful behaviors can be learned from media outlets. Researchers have debated this for years. However, we intend to research how media can affect students, specifically, to make decisions about smoking cigarettes. As we all know, as young adults, many people begin to smoke cigarettes and form life-long habits. Cigarette after cigarette puts a person one step closer to possibly developing cancer cells and other health complications. No matter the temporary benefits, cigarette smoking and the harms of nicotine have proved to be deadly in the long run. With that being said, we would like to take the initiative to take a deeper look into the role media outlets play in students decision to not smoke. Undoubtedly, there is a lot of money being spent all around the world to produce anti-smoking advertisements, but we want to make sure the money is going to good use. We would like to make sure those funds are being put toward an effective cause, and if not, it may be time for them to fund other anti-smoking solutions. Lets take a deeper look. Literature Review

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content There is indeed a lot of research that has been done in the past dealing with television consumption and its relationship to smoking habits. Cultivation Theory will be the guiding theory for our research purposes, as we attempt to paint a picture of the effectiveness of different media forms. Past studies of the same frame have mostly shown that there is a connection to be noticed between the amount of television watched and the

different areas of ones chosen smoking behaviors. All of the studies have their similarities, but often differ in exactly what relationship is being examined. In a crosssectional study conducted by Klaas Gutschoven and Jan Van den Bulck, the researchers sought to find out if the amount of television watched by a child has any affect on that childs age of smoking initiation (2005). They gathered a sample of 2,546 students in their first and fourth year of secondary school in Flanders, Belgium. Out of those sampled, 909 admitted to having smoked at least one cigarette. A significant relationship was found between television watching and the age of smoking initiation. Their results showed that for each hour more of television that a child watched, the age of smoking initiation decreased by .168 or two months. The results of their study commit added credibility to cultivation theory. In this case, the more that one watches television, the more likely they are to pick a cigarette earlier in their lives. Another example of relevant research can be found in an article titled role of the media in influencing trajectories of youth smoking (Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, Giovino 2003). They conducted a content analysis in which they examined cigarette advertisings and promotions, anti-smoking advertising, product placement in movies and in music media, as well as news coverage that dealt with smoking. Their purpose was to better understand the role of the media in shaping a persons smoking identity. From their study, they were able

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content

to reach a number of different conclusions: the media both shape and reflect social values about smoking; the media provide new information about smoking directly to the viewing public; the media act as a source of observational learning by providing models which teenagers may seek to make a model of behavior; exposure to media messages about smoking also provides direct reinforcement for smoking or not smoking; the media promote interpersonal communication about smoking; the media can influence intervening behaviors that may make teenage smoking less likely; and anti-smoking media messages can also set the agenda at the community, state, or national level (Wakefield et al., 2003). From these conclusions, justification for cultivation theory lies in the fact that the researchers were able to confidently conclude that media has an optimal role in shaping the cultural norms of human society. Both of these studies do a good job in highlighting how past research has been conducted on the subject of media intake and smoking habits. From them, we know that cultivation theory can be used to make better sense of the relationship between our two variables of interest. The first mentioned article clearly stated that heavy television watching influenced smoking behaviors. However, research inquiring into the effectiveness of anti-smoking messages upon media users of various outlets has yet to be attempted. This paper is the next step into learning more about how ones intake of anti-media messages can affect their smoking habits.

Research Questions/Hypotheses Our primary research question reads as follows: How do anti-cigarette media influence a student smoker/non-smokers urge to smoke? More specifically, we are

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content interested in if a students exposure to anti-smoking ads and PSAs discourages their urge to smoke. Provided the research weve completed and personal experience, we believe the frequency of reception of anti-smoking media will have a strong positive correlation with a students urge to smoke. Since previous research has shown that media intake can affect the behaviors of people, we believe heavy usage of media outlets that house anti-smoking content will have a similar effect on students.

Method With a surveying method we collected data to help us answer our research questions. Through the statistical program Qualtrics, we created a survey. Sampling For our sampling method, we posted a link to our Qualtrics survey in 4 separate alluniversity Facebook groups, from North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University, and Saint Augustines University. This helped us better ensure that our collected data would not be inclined to only represent NC State students, but a larger representation of college students as a whole. Per our intentions of research, we wanted to make sure we were choosing a sample population that best represented the larger population we were studying. We chose this sampling method because we contested that each group is as equally representative of the much broader student group as the other 3 were. Also, we believed that within these groups, there would be a very similar chance of receiving a response rate similar to that of the other groups. Ideally, we wanted to receive 30 responses from each group. However, the spread was unlikely, and sadly, we had no way of tracking where any of the respondents saw and

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content clicked on the link to complete the survey. Lastly, we figured there would be an equally likely chance of a smoker or nonsmoker completing the survey in each of these student groups. Variables To validate or disprove our research hypothesis, we decided to focus our survey questions on 4 variables, specifically: - Urge to smoke - Knowledge of smoking consequences - Smoking dependence level - Exposure to anti-smoking propaganda With careful collection and analysis of respondents variables, we could accurately accept or deny our hypothesis. Procedures

Since we intended to assess the effects of media on students, we agreed that a closeended survey would be the best means of assessment. With a survey, we knew we could ask specific questions pertaining specifically to the larger research questions we wanted to answer. It would prove as an effective means for focusing our research efforts. We decided to make the survey questions close-ended because for our research purposes, we did not need personal explanation from participants. For our purposes, we wanted each response to have a specific value, so it could eventually be coded and analyzed in our data analysis program, SPSS. We will expand further on coding and data analysis later in this research report. The survey was formatted so participants could identify themselves as smokers or nonsmokers in the first question. The first question asked the participant how many times

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content a day he or she purchases a pack of cigarettes. Of course, if the participants response was zero, we would classify them as a nonsmoker. At that point, respondents were only able to respond to questions intended for their select group. As a result, nonsmokers were not

asked questions that only apply to smokers. We did this to make sure data was not skewed due to internal validity and systematic error. Because our primary research question was focused around cultivation theory, our efforts were centralized on assessing the effects of media consumption. The dynamic of our survey was very simple. If the respondent chose 0 in response to the first survey question, additional questions assessed the frequency of use of different media forms. Amongst these forms were: television, radio, blogs, social media, newspapers and magazines. To assess the respondents intake, we asked them how many times on a normal day they used each different form of media. This provided us with the most commonly used media forms of respondents. Secondly, we asked respondents how often they encountered an anti-smoking PSA on each separate media form on a daily basis. This survey question was intended to help us get an idea of how often anti-smoking PSAs were coming in contact with students and on which media outlet it was happening most frequently. Third, we set out to paint an image of students prior knowledge and personal experiences with effects of smoking cigarettes. This set of survey questions asked students whether they had ever had a relative or close friend affected by smoking and also asked whether students had already received some type of cigarette smoking effects education, such as the D.A.R.E. program. On the other hand, if a respondent had a non-0 response to the first survey question, he or she was directed to questions to assess their level of smoking participation. In this sense, our goal was to figure out how much each of them smokes on a daily basis. We also asked the smokers how often they purchased

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content cigarettes on a daily basis. In addition to learning how much they smoked, we wanted to understand exactly how much of an urge they had to smoke, regularly. So we used a Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) used by drug rehabilitation centers all over the world to accurately rank how dependent the smoker was on smoking cigarettes. Following these

questions, the smokers were redirected to all of the questions nonsmokers were asked. We asked the remaining questions for the exact same reasons we asked the nonsmokers. Data Analysis When we received our benchmark number of responses, we closed the survey and proceeded to our data analysis phase. In this phase, we entered the results of our survey into IBMs SPSS predictive analytics software to run tests on the data we collected.

Results Out of the 110 started survey responses that were received from students, 84 of were completed, leaving us with a completion percentage of 76%. When asked how many cigarettes they smoked on an average day, a great majority of respondents answered to smoking no cigarettes at all or smoking only 1-3 in their lifetime (M=1.29, SD = .779). This means that 11 respondents who completed the survey chose to identify themselves as student smokers. Respondents who did not identify themselves as student smokers in our survey were not required to answers questions that inquired into their smoking habits, and attitudes toward smoking. They were skipped directly to questions that sought to measure their average daily media intake and the likelihood of encountering an anti-smoking

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content advertisement from six media outlets: radio, television, newspaper, magazines, social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and blog sites (Tumblr, Blogspot, etc.). Each respondent who completed a survey answered questions that provide insight into what media outlets people tended to use the most, as well as what media outlets house the most anti-smoking PSAs and advertisements. Out of the six media outlets, the two most frequently used were social media (M=3.00, SD=1.294) and television (M=2.33, SD=.959). Respondents typically spent 7-9 hours and 4-6 hours on social media and television, respectively. Respondents

also indicated that they typically utilized the other four media outlets nearly an hour or less on an average day [Radio-M=1.80, SD=.788; Newspaper-M=1.40, SD=.696; MagazineM=1.28, SD=.668; Blogs-M=1.65, SD=.974]. In a matrix question, respondents were asked to indicate how often they encountered anti-smoking advertisements while using any of the six media outlets in question. Answer choices, coded 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively, were as follows: never, rarely, sometimes, most of the time, all of the time. Respondents encountered the highest frequency of anti-smoking content while watching television (M=2.85, SD=1.101). Social media was the second most frequent house of anti-smoking content (M=1.98, SD=.854). The other four media outlets, which were also the least frequently used media outlets, were not reported as having a high volume of anti-smoking content [Radio-M=1.84, SD=.893; Newspapers-M=1.56, SD=.879; Magazines-M=1.77, SD=.990; Blogs-M=1.48, SD=.808]. With this information in mind, the next step was to run a test for Pearsons r between average hours of television watched and a measure of ones urge to smoke.

Can a students exposure to anti-smoking ads and PSAs encourage or discourage their urge to smoke?

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content

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Correlations On a normal day, about how many hours do you use How difficult do you find it to go without a cigarette? How difficult do you find it to Pearson Correlation go without a cigarette? Sig. (1-tailed) N On a normal day, about how many hours do you use these different media outlets?-Blogs (Tumblr, Blogspot, etc.) *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (1-tailed). Pearson Correlation Sig. (1-tailed) N 11 .617* .029 10 93 1 these different media outlets?Blogs (Tumblr, Blogspot, etc.) .617* .029 10 1

There was only one significant relationship discovered when correlation tests were conducted. The relationship between the difficulty to go without smoking and the average daily usage of blogs was significant at r(8)= .617, p < .05. The other media outlets did not possess a significant relationship with the other variable [Radio-r=.498; Social mediar=1.58; Newspapers-r=.383; Magazines-r=.319; Television-r=.367]. This data does not support our hypothesis and suggests a number of different things about the respondents

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content who answered the questions, and possibly the community in which this study has taken place. Discussion

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The data collected from the responses to the questionnaire suggest, first, that there is not an extensive amount of anti-smoking content cycling around various media outlets. Secondly, that the string of relationships that were found to not be significant suggests that our hypothesis was incorrect, and that anti-smoking content intake does not heavily impede upon a persons will to smoke. This is interesting because the calculated effects of heavy media usage and a persons urge to smoke are not parallel to those of the aforementioned studies in the literature review. This could be significant information to a number of people. For example, policy makers may use this information to aid in figuring out if more anti-smoking content needs to be circulating through different media outlets to be effective. Upon noticing the difference in how a glorified perspective of smoking on television affects people differently than anti-smoking perspective, or on the contrary, tobacco company executives may choose to discuss vamping up their ad campaigns in an effort to encapsulate more potential smokers and make more money. If a students intake of anti-smoking PSAs through various media outlets is not the primary influence in their smoking behavior, that would mean that it must be attributed to other factors. In comparison to previous research, our study produced both different and useful information. This may be attributed to the nature of the sample. Since we did sample college students, it could be possible that the sample is less affected by anti-smoking content because of their familial background, their religious background, or a number of other variables. In future research, researchers may seek to further understand what these

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content other variables are that are more influential in a students choice in smoking and urge to

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smoke. Once they have a better grasp of more variables that may be more influential, they could test them. Future researchers may even be interested in replicating this or conducting a study seeking similar information at a larger scale. If the researcher is able to gather a large sample, they would be able to get some very representative information. Ironically, one of our limitations deals with representativeness as well. In this study there were a few limitations. First, the sample from which we collected data was not as large as we wanted it to be. The data that we gathered from the sample may not be as representative of the population as we would have liked because of this. We also felt as if we needed more student smokers to respond to the survey for validity purposes. We definitely would have been able to learn more about student smokers with a larger sample; any conclusion about student smokers would suffer the question of invalidity if predicated off of the responses of 11 people. A larger sample would better suffice for more information to analyze about students smokers, which would translate into better, more representative numbers that describe their dependency and urges.

Conclusion From what we have learned in the research done in preparation for this report, we can say, without a doubt, that the media is pillar of our society. People, organizations and companies alike seek to communicate meaning everyday through media, some better than others. The people, organizations, and companies that come up with the anti-smoking advertisements have some thinking to do because of this. They may choose to push more money to the advertisement of anti-smoking PSAs, or they may choose to reallocate funds

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content in other areas. Before that decision is made, whatever that decision may be, they should choose to do further research on the topic. Doing more research would be beneficial because there are definitely a lot of questions about what will be effective in deterring

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people from picking up cigarettes and smoking them. As we know, great numbers of people die every year in the United States from smoking related diseases and complications. From prior research, we believe with confidence that when cigarette smoking is portrayed in the media in a positive light it influences the thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors of the audience. That is why it is imperative that we find which ways are most effective so that we can continue to help people help themselves. The health of the American population and future generations depend on it.

Effects of viewing anti-smoking content

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Works Cited Gutschoven, K., & Van den Bulck, J. (2005). Television viewing and age at smoking initiation: Does a relationship exist between higher levels of television viewing and earlier onset of smoking.Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 7(3), 381-385. Wakefield, M., Flay, B., Nichter, M., & Giovino, G. (2003). Role of the media in influencing the trajectory of youth smoking. Addiction, 98, 79-103.