Abstract
Perceived message effectiveness is often used as a diagnostic tool to determine whether a health message is likely to be successful or needs modification before use in an intervention. Yet, published research on the antecedents of perceived effectiveness is scarce and, consequently, little is known about why a message is perceived to be effective or ineffective. The present study's aim was to identify and test the affective antecedents of perceived effectiveness of antidrug television messages in a sample of 190 adolescents in the 15-19 year age range. Factor-analytical tests of retrospective message evaluation items suggested two dimensions of perceived effectiveness, one that contained items such as convincingness whereas the other contained pleasantness items. Using retrospective data as well as real time valence and arousal ratings, we found that arousal underlies perceived convincingness and valence underlies perceived pleasantness. The results indicated activation of appetitive and defensive motivational systems, which suggests a clear motivational component to the concept of perceived message effectiveness.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 278-288 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Prevention Science |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Preparation of this article was supported by Grant 1R21DA024430-01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health. M.C.Yzer(*).K.D.Vohs.M.Luciana.B.N.Cuthbert. A. W. MacDonald III SJMC, University of Minnesota, 111 Murphy Hall, 206 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA e-mail: mcyzer@umn.edu
Keywords
- Arousal
- Drug use prevention
- Perceived message effectiveness
- Valence