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Increasing Alcohol Control Policy Support: The Mediating Role of Empathy and Emotions
Melissa M Foster1, Michael D Slater1, Catherine E Goodall2
1School of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Substance Use & Misuse
|March 31, 2021
Summary
Mass media messages mentioning alcohol
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Media Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Mass media can influence public support for alcohol control policies.
- Alcohol-related harm can be reduced by increasing policy support.
- Media messages can incidentally or intentionally impact policy support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how alcohol mentions in news affect policy support.
- To investigate the impact of public service announcements (PSAs) on alcohol policy support.
- To determine the role of empathy and emotions in mediating message effects on policy support.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Experimental examination of incidental alcohol mentions in news.
- Study 2: Editing anti-drinking and driving PSAs to show consequences to self vs. others.
- Statistical mediation analysis to assess the role of empathy and emotions.
Main Results:
- Messages mentioning alcohol as a cause of accidents/crime increased policy support.
- PSAs showing consequences to others were more effective than those showing consequences to self.
- Empathy for victims and negative emotions mediated the relationship between message content and policy support.
Conclusions:
- Empathy and emotions play a mediating role in how message characteristics influence alcohol control policy support.
- Media messages, whether incidental or intentional, can leverage emotional responses to increase support for public safety policies.
- Understanding these emotional mediators can inform the design of more effective public health campaigns.
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