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How early adolescents perceive their own social problems: a video experiment
February 2003
pregnancy involvement (OR ⫽ 2.22, CI ⫽ 1.65–2.95, p ⫽ .00), were more likely to report inconsistent use of birth control (OR ⫽ 1.30, CI ⫽ 1.01–1.68, p ⫽ .04), inconsistent use of condoms (OR ⫽ 1.79, CI ⫽ 1.38 –2.32, p ⫽ .00), and not using a condom at last intercourse (OR ⫽ 1.58, CI ⫽ 1.22–2.04, p ⫽ .00), and had a higher numbers of male (p ⫽ .00) and female (p ⫽ .00) sexual partners. Conclusions: Perceived knowledge appears to be a salient correlate of adolescent sexual risk behavior, and may be a more powerful antecedent of sexual risk taking behavior than objective knowledge, which has not been consistently associated with behavior in previous literature. Health care providers and programs should incorporate the construct of perceived knowledge into their assessments of and interventions targeted at adolescents. HOW EARLY ADOLESCENTS PERCEIVE THEIR OWN SOCIAL PROBLEMS: A VIDEO EXPERIMENT Stephen L. Eyre, Ph.D., and Mary A. Ott, M.D. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Purpose: This goal of this research is to learn how early adolescents conceptualize and seek to influence social problems related to their age group. The long-term goal is to develop effective peer-authored messages about sexual risk taking for this age group. Methods: Thirteen male and 15 female adolescents, ages 13 to 14 years, formed teams in an 8th grade middle school class to script and produce videos portraying, “a problem people your age have involving people your age.” Teams were asked to write scripts that told a story and were trained to direct, film, and edit videos based on these scripts. The process of video production as well as the content of the resulting videos were analyzed using narrative analysis and grounded theory. Results: Students formed 3 predominantly female and 3 predominantly male teams to make videos. The social problem addressed and the style of argument appeared to be tied both to the gender composition and the developmental level of the videographer teams. The female teams chose to focus on popularity, gossiping, and teen pregnancy. The male teams focused on bullying, marijuana use, and suicide. All of the female videos depicted complex social interactions with substantial verbal exchange among characters, whereas none of the male videos had this characteristic. For example, the female video on gossiping featured a large number of cast members in complex web of friendship loyalties and jealousies. In contrast, the most sophisticated of the male videos, that on suicide, featured only 4 characters in straightforward relationships to each other (friend, sibling), and minimal dialogue. Differences in developmental level among both female and male teams were striking. Among female teams, the least sophisticated group made a video in which the main character was an extremely negative caricature of a popular student who was ultimately defeated. The most developmentally sophisticated female group made a video about teen pregnancy in which characters had both positive and negative traits, without a happy or romanticized ending. A similar progression was seen in the male videos. Conclusions: When given free choice to divide into teams, the class divided into teams representing distinctly different gender and developmental interests and made videos, which advocated these interests. This reflects the strong gender and developmental diversity of this age group, which leads to the greatest crowd differentiation of adolescence upon entry to high school the following year (Brown, et. al., 1986; Brown, 1990; Maccoby, 1990;
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
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Youniss, McLellan & Strouse, 1994). We conclude that a problem with educational messages directed at this age group is that one message can never effectively reach the entire group. In the next stage of this research, we will be assisting 8th graders to produce differentiated peer-authored abstinence-promoting video messages that will then be shown to self-selected subgroups of 8th graders. PERCEIVED RISKS AND BENEFITS OF SMOKING: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ADOLESCENTS WHO HAVE AND HAVE NOT SMOKED Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher, Ph.D., Michael Biehl, M.A., and Mark L. Rubinstein, M.D. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Purpose: Explanations of adolescent risk behavior typically make reference to adolescents’ belief that they are invulnerable to harm. However, there has been little empirical examination concerning whether adolescents who have smoked differ from adolescents who have never smoked in their perceptions of smoking-related physical and social risks. Further, few studies have considered perceived benefits (including both physical and social benefits) in adolescents’ behavioral decisions. Methods: The purpose of this study was to examine whether adolescents who have at least tried a few puffs of a cigarette differ from adolescents who have never smoked at all in their perceptions of: (1) smoking-related risks, (2) smoking-related benefits, (3) their ability to quit smoking, and (4) the effects of second-hand smoke. Two hundred and twenty eight 9th graders (mean age 13.98, SD ⫽ .42; 57.1% females) completed a self-administered survey concerning their smoking experiences and perceived risks and benefits of smoking. Participants indicated the percent chance that they would look cool, be popular, look more grown-up, get lung cancer, get a bad cough, have trouble catching their breath, have a heart attack, and get wrinkles if they smoked. Participants also indicated the percent chance that non-smokers who are often in the presence of smokers would get a number of smokingrelated negative outcomes. Results: Adolescents who have smoked at least a few puffs of a cigarette estimated their chance of experiencing a smoking-related negative outcome as less likely than did adolescents who have never smoked at all (mean percent differences ranged from 6% to 17%; t-values: 1.72 to 4.33, p’s ⬍ .05 to .000). Smokers also believed the effects of second-hand smoke were less than did non-smokers (t-values ⫽ 2.16, 3.5, p ⬍ . 05). In addition, smokers reported being less likely to still be smoking in 5 years and more likely to be able to quit than did non-smokers (t ⫽ 2.65, 2.92; p ⬍ . 009, .004, respectively). In contrast, adolescents who have smoked perceived the chance of experiencing a smoking-related social benefit (e.g., looking cool, being more popular) as more likely than did nonsmokers (mean differences between 6% to 9%; t-values: 1.74 to 1.89, p’s ⬍ .06 to .09). A similar pattern of results was found between adolescents who intend to smoke sometime in the next 6 months, and those who do not intend to smoke. Conclusions: The findings indicate that adolescents who have smoked and intend on smoking perceive fewer risks and more benefits of smoking than do non-smokers and those without intentions to smoke. However, it is not clear from this crosssectional data whether such perceptions motivate smoking behaviors or are reflective of their experiences. Nonetheless, the data do suggest that rather than solely focusing on risks as a way to deter
pregnancy involvement (OR ⫽ 2.22, CI ⫽ 1.65–2.95, p ⫽ .00), were more likely to report inconsistent use of birth control (OR ⫽ 1.30, CI ⫽ 1.01–1.68, p ⫽ .04), inconsistent use of condoms (OR ⫽ 1.79, CI ⫽ 1.38 –2.32, p ⫽ .00), and not using a condom at last intercourse (OR ⫽ 1.58, CI ⫽ 1.22–2.04, p ⫽ .00), and had a higher numbers of male (p ⫽ .00) and female (p ⫽ .00) sexual partners. Conclusions: Perceived knowledge appears to be a salient correlate of adolescent sexual risk behavior, and may be a more powerful antecedent of sexual risk taking behavior than objective knowledge, which has not been consistently associated with behavior in previous literature. Health care providers and programs should incorporate the construct of perceived knowledge into their assessments of and interventions targeted at adolescents. HOW EARLY ADOLESCENTS PERCEIVE THEIR OWN SOCIAL PROBLEMS: A VIDEO EXPERIMENT Stephen L. Eyre, Ph.D., and Mary A. Ott, M.D. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Purpose: This goal of this research is to learn how early adolescents conceptualize and seek to influence social problems related to their age group. The long-term goal is to develop effective peer-authored messages about sexual risk taking for this age group. Methods: Thirteen male and 15 female adolescents, ages 13 to 14 years, formed teams in an 8th grade middle school class to script and produce videos portraying, “a problem people your age have involving people your age.” Teams were asked to write scripts that told a story and were trained to direct, film, and edit videos based on these scripts. The process of video production as well as the content of the resulting videos were analyzed using narrative analysis and grounded theory. Results: Students formed 3 predominantly female and 3 predominantly male teams to make videos. The social problem addressed and the style of argument appeared to be tied both to the gender composition and the developmental level of the videographer teams. The female teams chose to focus on popularity, gossiping, and teen pregnancy. The male teams focused on bullying, marijuana use, and suicide. All of the female videos depicted complex social interactions with substantial verbal exchange among characters, whereas none of the male videos had this characteristic. For example, the female video on gossiping featured a large number of cast members in complex web of friendship loyalties and jealousies. In contrast, the most sophisticated of the male videos, that on suicide, featured only 4 characters in straightforward relationships to each other (friend, sibling), and minimal dialogue. Differences in developmental level among both female and male teams were striking. Among female teams, the least sophisticated group made a video in which the main character was an extremely negative caricature of a popular student who was ultimately defeated. The most developmentally sophisticated female group made a video about teen pregnancy in which characters had both positive and negative traits, without a happy or romanticized ending. A similar progression was seen in the male videos. Conclusions: When given free choice to divide into teams, the class divided into teams representing distinctly different gender and developmental interests and made videos, which advocated these interests. This reflects the strong gender and developmental diversity of this age group, which leads to the greatest crowd differentiation of adolescence upon entry to high school the following year (Brown, et. al., 1986; Brown, 1990; Maccoby, 1990;
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
147
Youniss, McLellan & Strouse, 1994). We conclude that a problem with educational messages directed at this age group is that one message can never effectively reach the entire group. In the next stage of this research, we will be assisting 8th graders to produce differentiated peer-authored abstinence-promoting video messages that will then be shown to self-selected subgroups of 8th graders. PERCEIVED RISKS AND BENEFITS OF SMOKING: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ADOLESCENTS WHO HAVE AND HAVE NOT SMOKED Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher, Ph.D., Michael Biehl, M.A., and Mark L. Rubinstein, M.D. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Purpose: Explanations of adolescent risk behavior typically make reference to adolescents’ belief that they are invulnerable to harm. However, there has been little empirical examination concerning whether adolescents who have smoked differ from adolescents who have never smoked in their perceptions of smoking-related physical and social risks. Further, few studies have considered perceived benefits (including both physical and social benefits) in adolescents’ behavioral decisions. Methods: The purpose of this study was to examine whether adolescents who have at least tried a few puffs of a cigarette differ from adolescents who have never smoked at all in their perceptions of: (1) smoking-related risks, (2) smoking-related benefits, (3) their ability to quit smoking, and (4) the effects of second-hand smoke. Two hundred and twenty eight 9th graders (mean age 13.98, SD ⫽ .42; 57.1% females) completed a self-administered survey concerning their smoking experiences and perceived risks and benefits of smoking. Participants indicated the percent chance that they would look cool, be popular, look more grown-up, get lung cancer, get a bad cough, have trouble catching their breath, have a heart attack, and get wrinkles if they smoked. Participants also indicated the percent chance that non-smokers who are often in the presence of smokers would get a number of smokingrelated negative outcomes. Results: Adolescents who have smoked at least a few puffs of a cigarette estimated their chance of experiencing a smoking-related negative outcome as less likely than did adolescents who have never smoked at all (mean percent differences ranged from 6% to 17%; t-values: 1.72 to 4.33, p’s ⬍ .05 to .000). Smokers also believed the effects of second-hand smoke were less than did non-smokers (t-values ⫽ 2.16, 3.5, p ⬍ . 05). In addition, smokers reported being less likely to still be smoking in 5 years and more likely to be able to quit than did non-smokers (t ⫽ 2.65, 2.92; p ⬍ . 009, .004, respectively). In contrast, adolescents who have smoked perceived the chance of experiencing a smoking-related social benefit (e.g., looking cool, being more popular) as more likely than did nonsmokers (mean differences between 6% to 9%; t-values: 1.74 to 1.89, p’s ⬍ .06 to .09). A similar pattern of results was found between adolescents who intend to smoke sometime in the next 6 months, and those who do not intend to smoke. Conclusions: The findings indicate that adolescents who have smoked and intend on smoking perceive fewer risks and more benefits of smoking than do non-smokers and those without intentions to smoke. However, it is not clear from this crosssectional data whether such perceptions motivate smoking behaviors or are reflective of their experiences. Nonetheless, the data do suggest that rather than solely focusing on risks as a way to deter