Drinking and Killing at the #RedWedding: Social Media Use as a Moderator of Exposure to Risky Media Portrayals and Behavioral Intention

• In Event: Cognition, Attitude, and Persuasion

Abstract

The present study uses the reasoned action approach to examine how social media use about television influences the relationship between exposure to televised risk and adolescents’ risky behavioral intention of combining alcohol use and aggressive behavior. We compare Black and White adolescents because prior research has suggested that Black and White adolescents often show different magnitudes of media effects. As social media use about television increased, so did the relationship between television exposure and attitude toward alcohol and aggression for both Black and White adolescents. This moderation was also present for the relationship between exposure and perceived injunctive norm for White adolescents but not for Blacks. Future research should further examine social media in the context of traditional media effects.

Authors

• Morgan E. Ellithorpe

• Amy Bleakley, U of Pennsylvania

• Michael Hennessy, U of Pennsylvania

• Patrick Jamieson, U of Pennsylvania

• Ilana Weitz, U of Pennsylvania

• Atika Khurana, U of Oregon