Evidence of the Value of the Smoking Media Literacy Framework for Middle School Students.

BACKGROUND: Susceptibility to future smoking, positive beliefs about smoking, and perceptions of antismoking norms are all factors that are associated with future smoking. In previous research, smoking media literacy (SML) has been associated with these variables, even when controlling for other known risk factors for smoking. However, these studies were performed with older teenagers, often in high school, not younger teens at a crucial developmental point with respect to the decision to begin smoking. METHODS: This study uses survey data collected from 656 American public middle school students representing multiple zip codes, schools, and school districts. RESULTS: Smoking media literacy levels for middle school students were similar to those of high school students in earlier studies. Higher SML levels were associated with lower susceptibility to future smoking and predicted susceptibility to smoke when controlling for other risk factors. This suggests that the same relationships found with teenagers may exist with middle school students. CONCLUSIONS: Although follow-up studies using larger and more controlled administrations of the SML scale are warranted, this study suggests the utility of the SML framework and scale in the development and investigation of media literacy as a prevention strategy in students this age.

Getting universal primary tobacco use prevention into priority area schools: a media literacy approach.

The impact of any prevention intervention depends on its ability to influence health risks and behavior change and the extent to which the target audience has access to and participates in the program. In this article, the authors make the case that media literacy-based tobacco prevention education can be integrated into the middle school curriculum in a way that delivers on both counts. They describe Missouri's successful development and dissemination of the Youth Empowerment in Action! Tobacco Education, Advocacy, and Media curriculum to schools serving populations that are most vulnerable to tobacco-related health disparities. They make three recommendations to support health program developers' efforts to motivate and prepare teachers to implement and sustain universal tobacco prevention education in areas of highest need.

Ethical issues in a study of Internet use: uncertainty, responsibility, and the spirit of research relationships.

In this article we explore ethical issues arising in a study of home Internet use by low-income families. We consider questions of our responsibility as educational researchers and discuss the ethical implications of some unanticipated consequences of our study. We illustrate ways in which the principles of research ethics for use of human subjects can be ambiguous and possibly inadequate for anticipating potential harm in educational research. In this exploratory research of personal communication technologies, participants experienced changes that were personal and relational. These unanticipated changes in their way of being complicated our research relationships, testing the boundaries of our committment to the principle of trustworthiness and forcing us to reevaluate our responsibilities.