title: Why Peer Crowds Matter: Incorporating Youth Subcultures and Values in Health Education Campaigns.
abstract: Grounded on research showing that peer crowds vary in risk behavior, several recent health behavior interventions, including the US Food and Drug Administration's Fresh Empire campaign, have targeted high-risk peer crowds. We establish the scientific foundations for using this approach. We introduce peer crowd targeting as a strategy for culturally targeting health behavior interventions to youths. We use social identity and social norms theory to explicate the theoretical underpinnings of this approach. We describe Fresh Empire to demonstrate how peer crowd targeting functions in a campaign and critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of this approach. By replacing unhealthy behavioral norms with desirable, healthy lifestyles, peer crowd-targeted interventions can create a lasting impact that resonates in the target audience's culture.
authors.affiliation: Meghan B. Moran is with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Matthew W. Walker and Tesfa N. Alexander are with the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Jeffrey W. Jordan and Dana E. Wagner are with Rescue, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Meghan B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.affiliation: Meghan B. Moran is with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Matthew W. Walker and Tesfa N. Alexander are with the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Jeffrey W. Jordan and Dana E. Wagner are with Rescue, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Meghan B. Moran is with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Matthew W. Walker and Tesfa N. Alexander are with the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Jeffrey W. Jordan and Dana E. Wagner are with Rescue, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Tesfa N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Meghan B. Moran is with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Matthew W. Walker and Tesfa N. Alexander are with the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Jeffrey W. Jordan and Dana E. Wagner are with Rescue, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.affiliation: Meghan B. Moran is with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Matthew W. Walker and Tesfa N. Alexander are with the Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. Jeffrey W. Jordan and Dana E. Wagner are with Rescue, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Dana E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012933:Social Identification; D066262:Social Norms; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult