The influence of smoking imagery on the smoking intentions of young people: testing a media interpretation model.

J.P. McCool, L.D. Cameron & K.J. Petrie, Journal of Adolescent Health, v.36, n.6, pp.475-85.

The authors have developed a 'media interpretation model' that predicts associations between factors of film exposure, imagery pervasiveness, nonchalance (towards smoking in films), positive smoker stereotypes, smoking prevalence, judgment (about young people smoking) and smoking expectations. To test the model, the Media Interpretation Questionnaire was completed by 3,041 Year 12 New Zealand students. In the results, 'film exposure predicted higher levels of perceived smoking prevalence, perceived imagery pervasiveness, and nonchalant attitudes about smoking imagery'. Judgments of smoking acceptability were predicted by nonchalant attitudes, identification of positive smoker stereotypes and perceived smoking prevalence. 'Acceptability judgments, identification of positive stereotypes, and perceived smoking prevalence were all positively associated with smoking expectations.' Overall, the model accounted for 24% of the variance in smoking expectations within the sample. The authors conclude that 'smoking imagery in film may play a role in the development of smoking intentions through inflating the perception of smoking prevalence and presenting socially attractive images'. They suggest that because young people respond negatively to 'youth-oriented' anti-smoking interventions, they should instead be encouraged to 'question the motivation behind "incidental" tobacco representations in film, and in other popular media'.