Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
How does alcohol advertising influence underage drinking? The role of desirability, identification and skepticism
Erica Weintraub Austin1, Meng-Jinn Chen, Joel W Grube
1Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2520, USA. eaustin@wsu.edu
Purpose:
To investigate, using an information processing model, how persuasive media messages for alcohol use lead to concurring beliefs and behaviors among youths.
Methods:
Data were collected in 2000-2001 using computer-assisted, self-administered interviews with youths aged 9-17 years (n = 652).
Results:
Latent variable structural equations models showed that skepticism was negatively associated with positive affect toward alcohol portrayals and positively with the desire to emulate characters portrayed in alcohol advertisements. These, in turn, predicted expectancies and liking of/desire for beer toys and brands, which predicted alcohol use. Parental guidance decreased alcohol use directly and indirectly by lessening influences of positive affect toward advertising.
Conclusions:
Media alcohol portrayals influence children's drinking through a progressive decision-making process, with its influence underestimated by typical exposure-and-effects analyses.
Related Concept Videos
Routes of Persuasion
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Deindividuation
CNS Depressants: Alcohol and Nicotine
The Representativeness Heuristic
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena

