title: Does socio-economic status and health consciousness influence how women respond to health related messages in media?
abstract: During the past few decades, people have been increasingly exposed to health-related messages in the mass media, conveying recommendations for healthy lifestyles. The present study investigates whether these messages represent a stressor, and whether coping responses increase levels of motivation or levels of negative affect. A sample of 403 women aged 45 years were surveyed twice, at an interval of 4 weeks. A substantial proportion of the participants perceived the health messages to be stressful (increased levels of threat). Overall, the participants reported a greater use of adaptive than non-adaptive coping when exposed to the health messages. Socio-economic status (defined in educational terms) was negatively correlated with non-adaptive coping, while health consciousness was positively correlated with adaptive coping. Adaptive coping was positively related, and non-adaptive coping was negatively related, to intentions and behaviours. Non-adaptive coping was associated with stronger negative emotions. The results indicate that less-educated women tend to respond more non-adaptively to health messages than more-educated women; for the former group, this has negative consequences in terms of increased levels of negative emotions and decreased levels of motivation to engage in healthy behaviours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education Health Promotion, Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christiesgate 13, 5015 Bergen, Norway. anette.iversen@psyhp.uib.no
authors.forename: Anette Christine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Iversen
authors.forename: Pål
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kraft
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003243:Consciousness; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology