Research Publication Roundup: February 2022
A vibrant and collaborative interdisciplinary research culture at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media creates new knowledge, advances scholarship and helps reinvent media.
Noelle Wilson, a J.D./M.A. dual degree student and UNC Hussman undergraduate alumna, recently won the Top Student Paper Award in the Law & Policy Division at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium. More details on this study are listed below, along with a list of other recently published or presented scholarship by UNC Hussman faculty and students.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Hall, M.G., Grummon, A.H., Higgins, I.C.A., Lazard, A., Prestemon, C.E., Avendaño-Galdamez, M.I., & Taillie, L.S. (2022) The impact of pictorial health warnings on purchases of sugary drinks for children: A randomized trial. PLOS Medicine, 19(2), e1003885.
Though pictorial warnings have shown promise in motivating change in tobacco consumption, little is known about the effects of pictorial warnings in motivating change in sugary beverage consumption. This study involved 325 parents of children ages 2 to 12 in a naturalistic store laboratory. Parents were randomized to either the pictorial warnings arm or the control arm and were then instructed to purchase one beverage and one snack for their child, as well as one household good. Pictorial warnings led to a significant reduction in purchases of sugary drinks versus the control arm; there were no differences by demographic characteristics. Pictorial warnings also led to significantly lower intentions to serve sugary drinks, greater thinking about the harm of sugary drinks, and lower perceived healthfulness of sugary drinks. The authors discuss the implications of their findings on policies.
Hall, M., Lazard, A., Grummon A., Higgins, I., Bercholz, M, Richter, A. P. C., & Taillie, L. S. (2021) Designing warnings for sugary drinks: A randomized experiment with Latino and non-Latino parents. Preventive Medicine, 148, 106562.
Placing warnings on sugary drinks is a promising policy to reduce consumption. However, little is known about how to design potential warnings to maximize their impact. In this study, the authors randomized 1,078 US parents of children ages 2-12 to one of four warnings or a neutral condition. Within each topic, parents viewed three types of designs, including text-only, icon, and graphic. All warning topics led to significantly greater thinking about harms of the drinks and lower purchase intentions, compared to the control. Icon and graphic warnings, in comparison to the text-only warnings, elicited higher perceived message effectiveness, greater thinking about the harms of the sugary drinks, lower perceived healthfulness, and lower purchase intentions. The impact of icon warnings was stronger for Latino parents (vs. non-Latino parents) and for those with low English use (vs. high English use). Warnings with icons or graphics may increase effectiveness among diverse population groups.
Lazard, A., Brennen, J. S., & Belina, S. (2021). App designs and interactive features to increase mHealth adoption: User expectation survey and experiment. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 9(11), e29815.
Although there is a plethora of mobile health apps on the marketplace, there is strikingly little guidance on how design impacts app adoption and use. The authors conducted a web-based survey of 462 U.S. adults who viewed two health apps. The first app was similar to apps readily available in the Apple or Google stores, and the second app was similar to apps designed for intervention research. Most participants expected a menu (for navigation or personal settings) in specific regions of the app. A feature to share with friends was the least expected (44%) among participants. Essential features were rated as high in predicted use and high in attention, and participants rated the first app (most like readily available apps) as more aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, useful, and having greater intentions of use. Thus, interventions that fail to meet these expectations when designing apps and encouraging use may be dismissed as less usable or beneficial.
Lazard, A., Nicolla, S., Darida, A., & Hall, M. (2021) Negative perceptions of young people using e-cigarettes on Instagram: An experiment with adolescents. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 23(11), 1962-1966.
Though it is well known that e-cigarette marketing on social media increases positive attitudes towards the products, little is known about how non-influencer portrayals of e-cigarette use among young people affects attitudes. The researchers recruited 928 adolescents (ages 15-18), who were randomized to view an Instagram post either with or without e-cigarette use. Compared to participants who viewed the posts without e-cigarettes, those who viewed the post with e-cigarettes reported significantly fewer positive perceptions and more negative perceptions, as well as greater social distance. Susceptibility to e-cigarette use moderated the effect of the post on negative perceptions and social distance. The study’s implications are discussed.
Parents of young children often buy sugary fruit drinks due to front-of-package claims and imagery. A content analysis of these claims and imagery was merged with national purchasing data. Most of the fruit-flavored beverages highlighted their inclusion of vitamin C and the absence of sugar on the front of their packages. The drinks also included natural claims and imagery. Nearly all of the examined drinks were purchased by households with 0–5-year-olds, with minor demographic differences between racial/ethnic groups. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the FDA.
Vereen, R. N., Lazard, A., Pulido, M., Richter, A.P., Vandegrift, S. M., Higgins, I., Shelus, V., Frank, S., Hall, M.G., & Ribisl, K. (2021). Motivations, barriers, and communication recommendations for promoting face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic: Survey findings from a diverse sample. PLoS One, 16(5), e0251169.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the need to use face coverings to decrease the spread of the virus. State and local health departments were tasked with promoting this protective measure across all communities. The researchers conducted a survey of North Carolina residents, distributed via NC Department of Health and Human Services listservs, of motivations and barriers to using a face covering. Around a third of participants (33.5%) were Latino, a little more than a third (39.1%) were Black, and the rest (27.5%) were White or another race. More than two-thirds of the sample reported that their motivations for wearing a face covering were to avoid spreading COVID-19 (77%), to protect people who are vulnerable (76%) and to protect one’s community (72%). A little less than half (40%) reported that discomfort was the biggest barrier to using a face covering. Implications for message design are discussed.
Wagoner, K. G., Lazard, A., Romero-Sandoval, E. A., & Reboussin, B. A. (2021) Health claims about Cannabidiol products: A retrospective analysis of U.S. Food and Drug Administration Warning Letters from 2015-2019. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 6(6), 559-563.
Cannabidiol (CBD) products are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and there are specific guidelines for how these products can be marketed. To promote voluntary regulatory compliance, the FDA issues warning letters to companies that promote products using prohibited claims. This study analyzes the content of warning letters issued by the FDA between 2015 and 2019. The sample consisted of 39 warning letters. Nearly all (97%) letters cited violations for statements made on company websites marketing CBD as an unapproved new drug. Claims of therapeutic benefit for more than 125 unique health problems were present in the warning letters, including cancer (87.2%), diabetes (66.7%) and pain (66.7%). The majority of letters (79.5%) also cited prohibited marketing of CBD as a dietary supplement or food product. The implications of these illicit claims are discussed.
CONFERENCES
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference
March 4-5, 2022 | Norman, Oklahoma
Lorenz, A. (2022, March). Understanding female candidate presentation strategies and challenges Post-2016 [Political Communications Division]. AEJMC Midwinter Conference, Norman, OK, United States.
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium
March 17-19, 2022 | Memphis, Tennessee
Crawford, M. (2022, March). Pronouns, journalistic frames, and (in)visibility: Considering the gender visibility frame. AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Memphis, TN, United States.
Ekstrand, V. S. (2022, March). Enter the thunderdome: What's next for Internet law? [Panel, Law & Policy Division]. AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Memphis, TN, United States.
Wilson, N. (2022, March). Data breach and standing: The Second Circuit's failure to recognize concrete harms in McMorris [Law & Policy Division]. AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Memphis, TN, United States.