Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 27, 2026

A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
Exposure to alcohol advertising and adolescents' drinking beliefs: Role of message interpretation
Rebecca L Collins1, Steven C Martino1, Stephanie A Kovalchik1
1RAND Corporation.
Objective:
Recent research revealed momentary associations between exposure to alcohol advertising and positive beliefs about alcohol among adolescents (Martino et al., 2016). We reanalyzed those data to determine whether associations depend on adolescents' appraisal of ads.
Method:
Over a 10-month period in 2013, 589 youth, ages 11-14, in the Los Angeles, CA, area, participated in a 14-day ecological momentary assessment, logging all exposures to alcohol advertisements as they occurred and completing brief assessments of their skepticism toward, liking of, and identification with any people in each ad, as well as their alcohol-related beliefs at the moment. Participants also completed measures of their alcohol- related beliefs at random moments of nonexposure throughout each day. Mixed-effects regression models compared beliefs about alcohol at moments of exposure to alcohol advertising that was appraised in a particular way (e.g., with liking, without liking) to beliefs at random moments.
Results:
When youth encountered ads they appraised positively, their beliefs about alcohol were significantly more positive than when they were queried at random moments. Beliefs in the presence of ads that were not positively appraised were generally similar to beliefs at random moments.
Conclusion:
Youth are active participants in the advertising process. How they respond to and process alcohol advertising strongly moderates the association between exposure and alcohol-related beliefs. More effort is needed to identify attributes of alcohol advertisements, and of youth, that determine how youth process alcohol ads. This information can be used to either limit exposure to problematic ads or make youth more resilient to such exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Routes of Persuasion
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Framing Effects
Cognitive Dissonance

