RESEARCHERS SAY ADS SUCCESSFUL IN DECREASING TEEN DRUG USE

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A study conducted in part by a University of
Missouri professor recently found teenagers exposed to anti-marijuana
public service announcements decreased their monthly marijuana use by
as much as 38 percent.

"The grant focused on high sensation-seeking teenagers," said Michael
Stephenson, the assistant professor of communication at MU who helped
conduct the study. "A high sensation-seeking person is someone who
needs novelty and engages in a lot of thrill-seeking activities such
as fast driving, roller coasters, and bungee jumping."

That group is also more likely to engage health-related behaviors such
as risky sexual behavior and drug use.

The anti-drug ads were designed specifically to combat marijuana use,
with no intended or observed effects on use of tobacco, alcohol,
inhalants, cocaine, crack or hallucinogens.

"This desire for stimulation and novelty also translates to television
programming. They need fast-paced, novel programming to retain their
attention," Stephenson said.

The ad campaign, which aired in two counties in Kentucky and
Tennessee, used teenage actors and "novelty, drama, surprise and
strong emotional appeal," according to the study published last month.
The ads also "depicted several negative consequences of marijuana use
such as effects on relationships, loss of motivation or coordination,
lung damage (and) impaired judgment."

Philip Palmgreen, a professor of communication and the head of the
research team at the University of Kentucky, said the ads were not
only aimed at high sensation-seeking teenagers but also those who are
light marijuana users or haven't started yet.

"We're not going to be able to reach everybody," Palmgreen said. "Our
campaign was only aimed at prevention. We're not aiming at people who
are heavy users or dependent on it. Those are the kinds of people who
are difficult to affect with media."

Researchers began the study in the spring of 1996 by surveying high
sensation-seeking seventh graders in public schools. One hundred of
these students were interviewed each month for 36 months.

The same students weren't interviewed each month, but researchers
followed and surveyed the initial age group until they were in 10th
grade.

Subjects took the surveys on laptop computers when their parents were
not in the room to ensure honesty and privacy. The grant for that
study ended in 1999, Stephenson said, but it was extended for another
five years to focus on "tweens,"children and adolescents ages 11 to
13.

An increase in teenage drug use from 1992 to 1998 prompted an
allocation of $2 billion by Congress for a separate five-year effort
to reduce drug use.

"Congress was seeing that, through the 1990s, drug use continued to
increase, and they felt like they needed to respond to that,"
Stephenson said. "They're doing a campaign across the nation on TV,
billboards, and the Internet. The study we did is a major strategic
component in this five-year effort."

The published report states that "media campaigns alone can have
significant effects on public health behaviors," and Stephenson said
research will continue in the same vein.

"We've always known TV exerts a particular influence," Stephenson
said. "The question is, can you change behavior by television alone?
This type of research will continue as long as we're able to find the
substantial effects we detected."