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A Rebuttal-Based Social Norms-Tailored Cannabis Intervention for At-Risk Adolescents

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Abstract

Many past cannabis prevention campaigns have proven largely ineffective due in part to the diversity of adolescents’ cannabis-relevant beliefs. The current studies evaluated the impact of a sequential multiple message approach tailored to the usage norms of adolescents expressing negative attitudes toward a cannabis prevention appeal. A multiple-message strategy was implemented—initial unfavorable message evaluations were invalidated using attitudinal rebuttal feedback prior to presenting a third tailored communication. Participants were cannabis-abstinent middle and high school students (ages 11 to 16). Study 1 (N = 808) compared effects of gain- and loss-framed messages tailored to each student’s normative usage perceptions. In Study 2 (N = 391), students were randomly assigned to receive a tailored or non-tailored message after receiving feedback meant to destabilize anti-message attitudes. For at-risk adolescents in Study 1 who perceived cannabis use as normative, a tailored gain-framed message resulted in the lowest usage intentions (p < .05). In Study 2, a conditional multiple-moderated mediation model showed that for high-risk teens with normative beliefs and pro-cannabis attitudes, exposure to a tailored gain-framed communication was associated with decreased cannabis attitude certainty, and lower usage intentions 2 months later (p < .05). Findings have implications for sequential messaging utilization in mass media campaigns and support the efficacy of tailored messages over a one-size-fits-all media approach. Further, results suggest that systematically weakening resistance to persuasive communications and tailoring messages consistent with individually perceived peer norms is an effective prevention strategy.

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Notes

  1. No significant differences in the treatment were shown based on grade level. As such, student grade was not included as a factor in the final model.

  2. Analyses showed a significant difference in ad evaluations between the two messages randomly assigned to respondents (p < .05). Message was included as a factor in a preliminary analysis, but did not have a significant impact on intentions or the effect of the treatment and so was removed from subsequent analyses.

  3. We assessed differences between subjects lost through attrition and those retained. Analysis revealed students assessed at both time points had higher GPAs and were more likely to be Hispanic than those who dropped out. No other systematic difference emerged.

  4. Conditional indirect effect of X on Y through Mi = (a1i + a4iW + a5iZ + a7iWZ) bi

    Direct effect of X on Y = c'

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Funding

Funding was supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant R01-DA032698. NIDA had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, 150 E. 10thSt., Claremont, CA, 91711, USA

    Candice D. Donaldson, Eusebio M. Alvaro, Andrea L. Ruybal, Michael Coleman, Jason T. Siegel & William D. Crano

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  1. Candice D. Donaldson
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  2. Eusebio M. Alvaro
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  3. Andrea L. Ruybal
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  4. Michael Coleman
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  5. Jason T. Siegel
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  6. William D. Crano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to William D. Crano.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Donaldson, C.D., Alvaro, E.M., Ruybal, A.L. et al. A Rebuttal-Based Social Norms-Tailored Cannabis Intervention for At-Risk Adolescents. Prev Sci 22, 609–620 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01224-9

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