Media as a "Super Peer": How Adolescents Interpret Media Messages Predicts Their Perception of Alcohol and Tobacco Use Norms

J Youth Adolescence (2017) 46:376387 DOI 10.1007/s10964-016-0609-9

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10964-016-0609-9&domain=pdf

Web End = Media as a Super Peer: How Adolescents Interpret Media Messages Predicts Their Perception of Alcohol and Tobacco Use Norms

Kristen C. Elmore1 Tracy M. Scull2 Janis B. Kupersmidt2

Received: 20 October 2016 / Accepted: 1 November 2016 / Published online: 11 November 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract Adolescents media environment offers information about who uses substances and what happens as a resulthow youth interpret these messages likely determines their impact on normative beliefs about alcohol and tobacco use. The Message Interpretation Processing (MIP) theory predicts that substance use norms are inuenced by cognitions associated with the interpretation of media messages. This cross-sectional study examined whether high school adolescents (n = 817, 48 % female, 64 % white) media-related cognitions (i.e., similarity, realism, desirability, identication) were related to their perceptions of substance use norms. Results revealed that adolescents media-related cognitions explained a signicant amount of variance in perceived social approval for and estimated prevalence of peer alcohol and tobacco use, above and beyond previous use and demographic covariates. Compared to prevalence norms, social approval norms were more closely related to adolescents media-related cognitions. Results suggest that critical thinking about media messages can inhibit normative perceptions that are likely to increase adolescents interest in alcohol and tobacco use.

Keywords Media Message processing Adolescents Norms Alcohol Tobacco

Introduction

Adolescents in the U.S. live in a media-saturated environment. They spend an average of 8 h each day engaged with media channels including television, video games, music, and the internet (Rideout et al. 2010), and 92 % of adolescents report that they go online every day (Pew Research Center 2015). These media usage rates are alarming when considered in light of research linking adolescents media exposure to increased risk of alcohol (e.g., Grenard et al. 2013; Tucker et al. 2013) and tobacco use (e.g., Tickle et al. 2001; Villanti et al. 2011). The associations between media exposure and substance use have led some to argue that media serve as a super peer (Strasburger and Wilson 2002), offering youth information about substance use that they may not encounter through other channels.

Although some regulatory efforts have been introduced to limit U.S. youths exposure to alcohol...