Progress 08/01/03 to 07/31/06
Outputs
Study 1: We developed a scale to measure skepticism toward weight loss-related information in the media. The final version of the survey was administered to male and female undergraduate students (n = 560) within liberal arts courses on two campuses of a major Southwestern university; however, only 17- to 25-year-old students (n = 538) were used for analyses to confine results to those of traditional college age. Principal components factor analysis was performed upon completion of data collection to test for reliability of scales. The factor analysis yielded two strong factors based on scree plot and eigenvalue assessment. Two-way analyses of variance showed significant differences in skepticism between genders (P = 0.046). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that skepticism predicted neither dieting for weight loss nor supplement use among college students. These results suggest that the newly developed instrument measuring skepticism toward weight-loss
information in the media is reliable and can be useful in identifying those who maintain lower skepticism toward weight-loss information. Study 2: In this content analysis project, we documented the roles of African Americans in direct to consumer (DTC) advertising for nutrition supplements. A list of all DTCA for nutrition supplements featuring African Americans from 1995 - 2005 was obtained from Visual Marketing Services (VMS). The list was obtained from VMS stores by searching for key phrases such as BB ["Black boy"], BG ["Black girl"], BW ["Black woman"], etc. Only advertisements that were 30 or 60 seconds long were selected for the content analysis. Duplicate advertisements (eg, order of appearance of characters changed from one advertisement to another) were omitted from the sample. Also omitted from the sample were advertisements for medical foods (eg, Ensure). After reducing the population of available DTCA accordingly, a total of 39 advertisements was left as the available
sample size. Of these 21 advertisements were selected randomly for the content analysis. Two independent evaluators (100% overlap) who did not know the purpose of the study read the coding manual carefully and familiarized themselves with all the definitions and categories. They then proceeded with several training sessions. The two evaluators coded advertisements to determine demographic information and content, including roles of African American and white talent featured in each advertisement. The DTCA were ordered randomly for each evaluator to avoid fatigue bias. All data were entered as numerical, string, date, or dollar variables into the SPSS for Window (vers. 14.0, Chicago, IL) for analysis. Data are currently being analyzed.
Impacts
We developed a tool to measure how skeptical people are of weight-loss information in the media. After expert review and pilot-testing among college students, the newly developed instrument was administered as part of a larger survey among 538 male and female college students. Statistical tests showed there were significant differences in skepticism between males and females; however, skepticism did not predict neither dieting for weight loss or supplement use among college students. These results suggest that our tool to measure skepticism toward weight-loss information in the media is useful and can be used to identify people who have less skepticism toward weight-loss information. Compared to the average American household, African American households watch more television; in addition, African Americans are more likely to consider media content to be real and to use television as a source of socialization. African Americans have the highest annual death rates of
any major racial or ethnic group from lung cancer, breast cancer, heart disease and stroke as well as the highest incidence of high blood pressure; additionally, When African American actors are included in advertisements, they are better able to recall the advertisement content and had more positive affect toward the advertisement and the actors. Given that televised advertisements for nutrition supplements are a source of health information, our study was designed to see what role(s) African Americans have in such ads.
Publications
- Wharton CM, Adams T, Hampl JS. 2007. Weight loss practices and body image distortion among U.S. college students. J Am College Health. In press.
- Hampl JS, Bramlett-Solomon S, Wharton CM. 2006. Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medications: Do you see what the public sees? J Am Diet Assoc. In press.
- Hampl JS, Wharton CM, Winham DM. 2007. High school journalists write about nutrition and physical activity. J Community Health. In review.
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Progress 08/01/04 to 07/31/05
Outputs
From August 2004 to the end of July 2005, we continued to work with high school journalism programs through several different research arms. In April 2005, we hosted our final media training for high school journalism students with 55 students (and their teachers) attending. The aim of the training was to increase the quality and quantity of students' reporting on nutrition and physical activity, and we had several leading media experts serve as the training's faculty. We continued to collect issues of high school newspapers from across Arizona (n = 25 schools that provided all issues of their newspapers). Although numerous content analyses of mass media and health messages have been conducted, little is known regarding high school students' perceptions of health-related topics. Two independent evaluators read each newspaper and categorized qualifying articles (n = 95) by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In addition, evaluators sorted articles into one or
more groups of MyPyramid, kept track of article themes related to harms or benefits of lifestyle choices, and determined whether articles contained incorrect information. Categorizing by the Dietary Guidelines, the most popular article topic was `Weight Management' (58% of articles). Newspaper articles frequently mentioned Food Guide Pyramid `Tip' foods (60%). A minority of articles provided balance and context by including harms and benefits of lifestyle choices (24%), and 19% of articles included incorrect information in their text. Using survey data collected during the previous year, we did statistical analyses to assess how televious characters influence adolescents' body image and eating habits. Most respondents (n = 467) said that they did believe television influenced them and that their peers were more influenced by television than they were themselves. The majority of students reported watching television 1-2 hours per day (32.2%) with another 22.7% stating they watched
television for 2-3 hours per day. Most students ranked television's accuracy to life as a 3 (23.5%) or 4 (27.7%) on a 1-6 point scale (6 = 'very accurate'). Most high school students perceived television characters as being neither under- or overweight (57.2%). Students reported their own exercise patterns with 11.4% stating they did not engage in any exercise, 17.8% less than 30 minutes, 28.2% 30-60 minutes, 24.7% 1-2 hours, and 17.8% exercising for more than 2 hours per day.
Impacts
Our data show that adolescents are heavy media consumers and tend to believe that portrayals of televisions characters are very accurate. Our data also show that obesity and weight management, in particular, are important concerns for high school journalism students who recognize the impact of high- energy, low-nutrient foods. Nutrition professionals should consider volunteering with high school journalism classes to encourage more and better writing on health issues.
Publications
- Hampl JS, Wharton CM, Taylor CA, Winham DM, Block JL, Hall R. 2004. Primetime television impacts adolescents' impressions of body weight, sex appeal, and food and beverage consumption. Nutr Bull. 29:92-98.
- Hampl JS. 2004. Conflicts of interest and hyperbole: nutrition in the media. Journ Mass Comm Educ. 58:364-372.
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Progress 08/01/03 to 07/31/04
Outputs
We have completed Phase 1 of the study, in which we worked with high school jouralism students and teachers to assess how primetime television programs influence adolescents' decisions regarding food and beverages and also how television characters modify high school students' own self-esteem and opinions regarding their body shape and size. These data were collected via an Internet-based survey, and students (n = 524) from rural, urban, and suburban areas across Arizona completed the survey. Beginning in August 2003 (and continuing until May/June 2005), we began collection newspapers from Arizona high schools. We have complete sets of 2003-2004 academic year newspapers from 15 of 36 participating schools from across Arizona, and we have 21 incomplete sets. Many of these incomplete sets are missing just 1 or 2 issues, and we have been working VERY hard to get the missing back issues. Newspaper collection for the 2004-2005 academic year has been proceeding well. We
will use these newspapers to conduct content analyses of the articles to determine how they relate to the 10 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In February 2004, we hosted our first Reporting on Nutrition media training for high school journalism students. Our speakers included registered dietitians and media experts Carolyn O'Neil and Jackie Newgent, in addition to local media 'celebrities' from metro-Phoenix newspapers and television news. We had 65 students attend from across Arizona, and their end-of-the-day evaluations were very positive. Our intent is that by attending these media trainings, the students will return to their high school newspapers to write more and write better about nutrition and physical activity. Our next media training will be February 11, 2005, and so far we have 25 students and their journalism teachers who have committed to come. We are doing pre- and post-tests, again using an Internet-based survey, to assess the high school students' knowledge, social
norms, and behavioral intentions related to nutrition and physical activity. Our intent is that the students who attend the media trainings will act as peer influencers to affect their classmates' decision-making and knowledge related to nutrition and physical activity.
Impacts
We expect that our intervention will improve high school students' knowledge, social norms, and behavioral intentions related to nutrition and physical activity, due to the peer-based model of our study design.
Publications
- Wharton CM, Taylor CA, Hampl JS. Primetime television and adolescents' attitudes toward alcohol consumption. Am J Health Promot. 2004 In Review.
- Wharton CM, Hampl JS. Peer modeling: an alternative approach to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among children. Health Promot Int. 2004 In Review.
- Hampl JS, Wharton CM, Taylor CA, Winham DM, Block JL, Hall R. Primetime television impacts adolescents' impressions of body weight, sex appeal, and food and beverage consumption. Nutr Bull. 2004;29:92-98.
- Hampl JS. Conflicts of interest and hyperbole: nutrition in the media. Journ Mass Comm Educ. 2004;58:364-372.
- Wharton CM, Hampl JS, Hall R, Winham DM. PCs or paper-and-pencil: online surveys for data collection. J Am Diet Assoc. 2003;103:1458-1460.
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