4 Troubled Teens Blog

Well-meaning advertisements designed to stop teenage drinking may backfire and make them drink more, according to a new study from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

• Professor Adam Duhachek and his colleagues studied 1,200 undergraduates who saw two ads against drinking.
  
• The first one depicted a person vomiting after drinking, and the second was about how drinking can adversely affect loved ones.
  
• The participants who felt the most guilty after looking at the ads told researchers they were more likely to binge drink in the coming year.

Dr. Duhachek called the phenomenon "defensive processing," which occurs when a person reacts negatively to messages that provoke feelings of guilt or shame.

Groups such as the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control frequently develop public service announcements aimed against unprotected sex, drug use, drinking, smoking, and other risky teenage behaviors. Dr. Duhachek's study has implications for the contents of these messages.

Labels: advertisements, behavioral_issues, media

Posted By: Aspen/CRC