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Examining the Moderating and Mediating Roles of News Exposure and Attention on Adolescent Judgments of Alcohol-Related Risks

The Ohio State University

Andrew F. Hayes

The Ohio State University

Valerie L. Ford

Colorado State University

This study (a nationally representative telephone survey; n = 406) examines how attention to accident and crime stories among adolescents predicts judgments regarding alcohol-related risks, and how effects of 2 relevant individual difference variables—sensation seeking and negative 1st- or 2nd-hand personal experiences with alcohol risks—are mediated by attention. Results indicate, after controlling for a variety of demographic and behavioral variables, that attention to accident and crime news predicts adolescent risk judgments and mediates the influence of sensation seeking and negative experience on such risk judgments. Moreover, exposure to national TV news moderates these indirect effects, and sensation seeking and negative experiences also in turn moderate each others' indirect effects. Thus, the best characterization of the complex relation between individual differences, media, and risk judgments is one of moderated mediation.

Key Words: news media effects • adolescents • alcohol • risk perception • policy • mediation • exposure • attention

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