Analysis Versus Production: Adolescent Cognitive and Attitudinal Responses to Antismoking Interventions

This study examined cognitive and attitudinal responses of adolescents to two inoculation-based media-literacy intervention approaches designed to reinforce adolescents’ attitudes against smoking. Participants were junior high students (sixth, seventh, and eighth grade) from schools in the northeast. Two kinds of experimental workshops and a control group were used in a repeated measure nonequivalent group experimental design. The two intervention workshops developed included analysis (where participants discussed and analyzed cigarette and antismoking ads) and production (where participants discussed, analyzed, and then created their own antismoking ads). Results showed an overall support for the production workshop in eliciting more attention and positive workshop perceptions than the analysis workshop. The production workshop was also successful in reducing positive attitudes toward smoking over time. Implications and directions for future research are discussed including implications for theories of message processing.