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Improving Media Message Interpretation Processing Skills to Promote Healthy Decision-Making About Substance Use: The Effects of the Middle School Media Ready Curriculum

NCJ Number
306861
Journal
Journal of Health Communication Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Dated: 2012 Pages: 546-63
Author(s)
Janis B. Kupersmidt; Tracy M. Scull; Jessica W. Benson
Date Published
2012
Length
18 pages
Annotation

The authors report on a short-term efficacy trial aimed at determining the impacts of a media literacy education, preventive intervention program, at improving adolescents’ media literacy skills and reducing their intent to use alcohol or tobacco products; they discuss their methodology, outcomes, and implications for practice.

Abstract

The Media Ready Program was designed as a middle school, media literacy education, preventive intervention program to improve adolescents' media literacy skills and reduce their intention to use alcohol or tobacco products. In a short-term efficacy trial, schools in North Carolina were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Media Ready or control. Boys in the Media Ready group reported significantly less intention to use alcohol in the future than did boys in the control group. Also, students in the Media Ready group who had used tobacco in the past reported significantly less intention to use tobacco in the future than did students in the control group who had previously used tobacco. Multi-level multiple mediation analyses suggest that the set of logical analysis Message Interpretation Processing variables mediated the program's effect on students' intentions to use alcohol or tobacco in the future. Publisher Abstract Provided