Watching and drinking: expectancies, prototypes, and friends' alcohol use mediate the effect of exposure to alcohol use in movies on adolescent drinking.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the psychological processes that underlie the relation between exposure to alcohol use in media and adolescent alcohol use.


METHODS
The design consisted of a structural equation modeling analysis of data from four waves of a longitudinal, nationally representative, random-digit dial telephone survey of adolescents in the United States.


METHODS
The main outcome measures were adolescent alcohol consumption and willingness to use alcohol. Tested mediators were alcohol-related norms, prototypes, expectancies, and friends' use.


RESULTS
Alcohol prototypes, expectancies, willingness, and friends' use of alcohol (but not perceived prevalence of alcohol use among peers) were significant mediators of the relation between movie alcohol exposure and alcohol consumption, even after controlling for demographic, child, and family factors associated with both movie exposure and alcohol consumption.


CONCLUSIONS
Established psychological and interpersonal predictors of alcohol use mediate the effects of exposure to alcohol use in movies on adolescent alcohol consumption. The findings suggest that exposure to movie portrayals may operate through similar processes as other social influences, highlighting the importance of considering these exposures in research on adolescent risk behavior.
Dal Cin
Sonya
S
Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. sdalcin@umich.edu
Worth
Keilah A
KA
Gerrard
Meg
M
Stoolmiller
Mike
M
Sargent
James D
JD
Wills
Thomas A
TA
Gibbons
Frederick X
FX
D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010379:Peer Group; D012932:Social Facilitation; D014481:United States