Tobacco Content on Smoking Among Females in Chinese Newspapers, 2005 – 2013

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

China has 12.6 million female smokers and smoking rate is increasing among young women. The present study examined how Chinese newspapers cover female smoking by analyzing the published news articles (N = 105) from 2005 to June 2013. Results showed only a small number of news articles, 105 in 8 years, addressed female smoking. These articles were given low prominence in newspapers and tobacco-control services specific to women were rarely mentioned. Only one half of the articles included tobacco-control content from a women’s perspective and these reports tended to adopt a loss frame over a gain frame. In order to slow down the increasing rate of smoking among women, Chinese media should offer more tobacco control information that is relevant to women, such as highlighting unique health risks among women and addressing the misconception that smoking is associated with attractiveness, which is widely promoted by “women’s cigarettes”.

Authors

• Shan Xu, Washington State University

• Prabu David, Washington State U