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Mass media and education: An exploration of linkages among African American smokers
Abstract
Smoking has been identified by the Surgeon General as the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States. Although tobacco use is declining nationally, cessation efforts have not been as effective for African Americans. Smoking prevalence is higher, quit rates are poorer, and the diseases resulting from tobacco hit harder among African Americans. This investigation has explored the contribution of educational attainment and four types of mass media use to smoking cessation among African American adult smokers. The data for the analysis came from a study of smoking among African Americans in four eastern cities, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. A sample of 1017 smokers was utilized to address whether education and mass media were factors in perceptions, intentions, opinions, and practices related to smoking. When mass media and education were considered as independent factors, the findings revealed that radio use was associated with more reasons to quit smoking, and that radio use and lower education were associated with more support for tobacco control regulations. When the interactions of mass media with education were considered, several patterns emerged. Radio listeners in the middle and higher educational groups had more reasons to quit compared to non-listeners in those educational groups, while little difference was apparent among those with less than 12 years of school. Regular periodical readers had stronger reasons to quit, compared to the non-readers, only if they had less than 12 years of education. Heavier television viewers anticipated more barriers to smoking cessation, compared to lighter viewers, and this differential was most pronounced among the least educated. These patterns of association could be explained by two conceptual models: cultivation theory, which suggests that mass media, and television in particular, serve as powerful cultural agents, socializing media users to adopt certain views commonly portrayed in the media; and Weber's concept of status groups, which suggests that people will adopt what they perceive as the consensus views of their status group--defined in this case by their education level--and these views in turn will have a governing influence on their lifestyles.
Subject Area
Public health|Mass communications|Health education
Recommended Citation
Cruz, Nancy Tess Boley, "Mass media and education: An exploration of linkages among African American smokers" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329589.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329589