(Press-News.org) Anti-tobacco television advertising helps reduce adult smoking, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy -- but some ads may be more effective than others.
Adults and youth are exposed to a variety of anti-smoking messages on television. However, no research had been done on whether the ads, produced by various sponsors, impact adult smoking behaviors, or on how the ads differ, says Sherry Emery, a senior scientist at the UIC institute and lead author of the study.
The new study, in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health, looked at the relationship between adults' smoking behaviors and their exposure to ads sponsored by states; by private foundations; by tobacco companies themselves; or by pharmaceutical companies marketing smoking-cessation products.
The researchers measured exposure to smoking-related advertisements using Nielsen ratings data for the top 75 U.S. media markets from 1999 to 2007. They combined this data with individual smoking data and state tobacco-control-policy data.
The researchers analyzed variables such as smoking status, intentions to quit smoking, attempts to quit in the past year, and average daily cigarette consumption.
They found that in markets with higher exposure to state-sponsored media campaigns, "smoking is less, and intentions to quit are higher," Emery said.
Higher exposure to state-sponsored, private (American Legacy Foundation), and pharmaceutical advertisements was associated with less smoking. Higher exposure to tobacco industry advertisements was associated with more smoking.
"On the surface, the tobacco-industry ads were mostly anti-smoking and a little corporate promotion, but they weren't promoting the act of smoking," Emery said. "But the effect of the ads is that they are associated with more smoking."
An unexpected finding of the study was that adults who were in areas with more ads for pharmaceutical cessation products were less likely to make an attempt to quit.
"Since we looked at the total amount of exposure to anti-smoking campaigns -- and the campaigns are very different – our data suggests that it may not matter what you say to people, just that you're saying it a lot," she said.
Most of the recent state-sponsored media campaigns were supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The researchers suggest that the recent increased funding for anti-tobacco campaigns may contribute to meaningful reductions in smoking among U.S. adults.
INFORMATION:
Co-authors include Yoonsang Kim, Young Ku Choi, Glen Szczypka, and Frank Chaloupka of UIC and Melanie Wakefield of the Cancer Council in Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu.
END
Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human. The study appears online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin: PhD student, Luke McNally and Assistant Professor Dr Andrew Jackson at the School of Natural Sciences in collaboration with Dr Sam Brown of the University of Edinburgh.
The researchers constructed computer models of artificial organisms, endowed ...
CINCINNATI—Cardiac researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that a certain cellular pathway is linked to obesity-related disorders, like diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease.
These findings, being presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) 2012 Scientific Sessions in Chicago, April 19, 2012, could lead to a potential molecular target for metabolic diseases in humans.
Building on previous research, Tapan Chatterjee, PhD, and researchers in the division of cardiovascular diseases ...
(CHICAGO) – In the 19th century, Jean-Martin Charcot, the celebrated neurologist, developed a "vibration chair," to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Charcot reported improvements in his patients, but he died shortly thereafter and a more complete evaluation of the therapy was never conducted. Now, a group of neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have replicated his work in a study to see if Charcot's observation holds true against modern scientific testing.
Results from the study indicate that while vibration therapy does significantly improve ...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year.
The researchers analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions in the country, car and truck exhaust was the single greatest contributor to premature death, affecting some 3,300 people per year. By comparison, the researchers note, fewer ...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $9 million grant to the University of Houston's Texas Center for Learning Disabilities to conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents. UH is one of four universities nationally to receive funding from the NIH for a learning disability research center.
The substantial number of today's adolescents struggling with weak literacy skills presents an urgent national concern, yet little is known about reading disabilities beyond the early elementary grades. ...
MyBinding.com, one of the country's leading retailers of document finishing machines and supplies, is partnering with Boom Fitness to provide their employees with a fitness program.
"The health of our employees is very important to us," said Jeff McRitchie, Vice President of Marketing for MyBinding.com. "Many of our employees sit for most of the day and we wanted a way to help our staff stay active."
McRitchie joined Boom Fitness for personal reasons and brought several employees along with him. As more employees joined, the two companies decided ...
Stressed out lizard moms tend to give their developing embryos short shrift, but the hardship may ultimately be a good thing for the babies once they're born, according to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.
Stress changes the way animals allocate energy. During predator attacks or food shortages, hormones are released that help the body to access stored energy. But for pregnant females there's a potential trade-off. Stress hormones could rob precious energy from developing embryos, leading to offspring that aren't as healthy.
A research ...
The need to swab the noses of pregnant women and newborns for the presence of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) may be unfounded, according to a Vanderbilt study now available online and published in the May issue of Pediatrics.
The study's senior author, Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics, said it is often feared that mothers carrying MRSA may risk transmitting an infection to their newborn babies, but Vanderbilt Pediatric Infectious Diseases researchers found that babies rarely became ill from MRSA infections, despite frequently ...
WasThatGood recently announced the launch of a new website meant to offer the public an arena to voice their opinions of the London theatre. The site is designed to fill a gap in a niche where misreporting and sycophancy abound and, as such, offers theatre-goers not only a fair assessment of various productions by their peers but also a venue to air their own opinions without censure.
In the age of information, it is surprising that people who enjoy the London stage and all it has to offer have little choice when it comes to finding honest and transparent reviews on ...
Philadelphia– While most teens do buckle up when driving, new research shows that novice teen drivers who live in states with so-called "secondary enforcement" seat belt laws are less likely to use the life-saving devices than those in "primary enforcement" states. The research, conducted by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm®, is published in the American Journal of Public Health. The research found seat belt use rates differed as teens moved through the probationary licensing process known as Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).
A primary seat ...
