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ABSTRACT: Previous research has reported mixed results on the association between body weight measures (ie, perception of weight and weight loss goal) and cigarette smoking prevalence-and how these associations vary by sex and race. This longitudinal study assessed the relationship between these 2 body weight measures and smoking prevalence by smoking status (ie, nonsmoker, former smoker, smoker).
Panel data of adolescents (N = 1592) from Louisiana schools completed survey interviews in the 9th grade and again in the 12th grade. Three separate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses were conducted based on respondents' smoking status in the 9th grade: nonsmoker, former smoker, and smoker. The dependent variable, smoking prevalence was assessed in the 12th grade.
Among nonsmokers, weight loss goal was associated with smoking in the 12th grade. Among former smokers, the association between weight loss goal and smoking varied by sex. Girls who reported the goal to lose weight smoked more than their male counterparts. In contrast, among those who did not have the goal of losing weight, boys smoked more than girls. Among adolescents who were already smokers in the 9th grade, weight loss goal was not significantly associated with smoking prevalence.
Differences in the association between weight-related variables and smoking prevalence may be attributed, in part, to smoking status. School-based smoking interventions should target nonsmokers and female former smokers who desire weight loss.
Journal of School Health 05/2013; 83(5):314-21. · 1.34 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To assess the influence of media use and perceived risk on marijuana use outcomes.
With survey data from 750 US young adults, structural equation modeling tested how attitudes, behaviors, and behavioral intention specific to marijuana use are influenced by perceived personal and societal risk of marijuana use, media campaign exposure, and news use.
Perceived societal risk had significant effects, though not as strong as perceived personal risk. Campaign exposure had favorable effects whereas those of news use were mixed.
Perceived personal risk and perceived societal risk should be considered when designing preventive media campaigns.
American journal of health behavior 01/2012; 36(1):134-43. · 1.31 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Research over the past decade has conveyed a dramatic rise in health information seeking via the Internet and articulated various profiles and outcomes of health information seeking. In building upon this research, the current study is innovative in considering predictors of health information seeking by medium, as well as outcomes of health information seeking by medium and by critical demographics.
OLS regression and logistic regression are conducted on data from a telephone survey of American adults in 2007 (N=700).
Profiles of health information seekers vary dramatically by medium (Internet versus newspapers versus television). In terms of outcomes, newspaper health information seeking is associated with fruit and vegetable consumption, while television health information seeking is associated with sweetened soft drink consumption. There are four significant interaction terms between these two health information seeking variables and unhealthy snack consumption. Internet health information seeking has no significant effects.
In comparison to the Internet, newspaper and television media have more favorable associations with recommended levels of lifestyle behaviors that may be critical in efforts to decrease obesity in the United States.
International Journal of Medical Informatics 06/2011; 80(8):586-95. · 2.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study assessed changes in the influence of social environmental and individual factors-and the interaction of these factors with time-on smoking prevalence for girls. Longitudinal panel surveys of adolescent girls (N = 921 in both 2000 and 2004) from schools in Louisiana were completed in the ninth grade (2000) and then again in the twelfth grade (2004). A fixed effects hierarchical multiple regression model assessed the relation of changes in social environmental and individual factors to smoking prevalence. Increases in smoking prevalence over time among adolescent girls were associated with their perceptions of themselves as overweight and perceiving low risk associated with smoking. Increases in smoking prevalence over time were also associated with having friends who smoked, perceptions of friends' approval of smoking, having family members who smoked, and having monetary discretionary spending. Having friends who smoked was more strongly associated with smoking in the twelfth grade than in the ninth grade. While more black adolescent girls smoked than did white girls in the ninth grade, by the twelfth grade, more white adolescents girls smoked than did black girls. Interventions that target adolescent girls should consider the temporal variability of individual and social environmental factors.
Women & Health 05/2011; 51(3):187-203. · 1.00 Impact Factor
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Traci Hong
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ABSTRACT: A patient discussing Internet health information with a health care provider (referred to as "patient-provider communication about Internet health information") can contribute positively to health outcomes. Although research has found that once Internet access is achieved, there are no ethnic differences in Internet health information seeking, it is unclear if there are ethnic differences in patient-provider communication about Internet health information. To help fill this gap in the literature, the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey 2005 was analyzed with Stata 9. Two sets of logistic regression analyses were conducted, one for a subsample of Internet users (n = 3,244) and one for a subsample of Internet users who are first-generation immigrants (n = 563). The dependent variable was patient-provider communication about Internet health information, which assessed whether survey participants had discussed online health information with a health care provider. The predictor variables included trust of health care provider, trust of online health information, Internet use, health care coverage, frequency of visits to health care provider, health status, and demographics. Among all Internet users, Whites had higher levels of patient-provider communication about Internet health information than Blacks and Asians. Similarly, among Internet users who are immigrants, Whites had higher levels of patient-provider communication about Internet health information than Blacks and Asians. While the digital divide is narrowing in terms of Internet access, racial differences in patient-provider communication about Internet health information may undermine the potential benefits of the information age.
Cyberpsychology & behavior: the impact of the Internet, multimedia and virtual reality on behavior and society 10/2008; 11(5):587-9. · 1.59 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Efforts to promote physical activity through environmental changes in low-income, urban, and minority areas should be informed by an understanding of the value that residents place on different neighborhood features and characteristics.
Neighborhood rebuilding preferences among 442 New Orleans residents after the damage from Hurricane Katrina were assessed by a random-digit-dialed telephone survey conducted between April 25, 2006 and May 2, 2006. The survey instrument assessed the importance (on a 5-point Likert-type scale on which 1=not at all important and 5=extremely important) for 24 neighborhood features and characteristics. Ratings of neighborhood features were compared by race and income.
Overall, residents rated most highly the features that reflected low levels of neighborhood crime and disorder. There was moderate support for features that promote physical activity, specifically sidewalks and crosswalks, neighborhood grocery stores, and parks or playgrounds. Blacks rated more highly than whites 13 neighborhood features such as good schools, lack of noise, a park or playground, affordable housing, health clinics, and the absence of liquor stores. The low-income group rated the following features as being more important than the high-income group: affordable housing, a bus or streetcar line, and the presence of a corner store.
New Orleans residents' top neighborhood priority is reducing crime and disorder, but all groups otherwise support neighborhood features that promote physical activity.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine 05/2008; 34(4):353-6. · 4.04 Impact Factor
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Traci Hong
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ABSTRACT: A content analysis examined 727 SARS news stories from a commercial China-based Web portal, a national Chinese newspaper, and a Chinese regional newspaper. Coding included news frames (health severity, human interest, economic, attribution of responsibility, denial) and the type of cited sources (domestic and international). MANOVA analyses indicated that the national newspaper used the health severity frame more often than the regional newspaper. The China-based Web portal used the economic frame and international sources significantly more often than either newspaper. Results are discussed in terms of the future of the Internet in China as a tool to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases through rapid information dissemination.
CyberPsychology & Behavior 11/2007; 10(5):696-9. · 2.71 Impact Factor
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Traci Hong
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ABSTRACT: This study explicates the influence of audience factors on website credibility and the subsequent effect that credibility has on the intention to revisit a site. It does so in an experimental setting in which participants were given two health-related search tasks. Reliance on the web for health-related information positively influenced website credibility in both searches. Knowledge was a significant predictor for the search task that required more cognitive ability. Of the credibility dimensions, trust/expertise and depth were significant predictors of intention to revisit a site in both searches. Fairness and goodwill were nonsignificant predictors in both searches.
Journal of Health Communication 04/2006; 11(2):149-65. · 1.61 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This article reports on a public health campaign that aims to promote social ties and social trust as a means to improve the health of youths. Analyses on data from telephone survey interviews at baseline, Year 1, and Year 2 consider the trends and predictor patterns of 2 traditional social capital measures-civic perceptions and civic participation. Civic perceptions increased over the course of the focal media campaign, whereas civic participation remained constant. Civic participation was positively associated with TV and newspaper campaign recall at Year 1, whereas both civic participation and civic perceptions were positively associated with TV and newspaper campaign recall at Year 2. In addition, newspaper and TV news use play positive roles in predicting the 2 social capital measures at Year 1 and Year 2. The findings are discussed in terms of literature in the areas of public health and mass communication.
Health Communication 02/2006; 19(2):175-82. · 0.97 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Ignored in the finalized Master Settlement Agreement (National Association of Attorneys General, 1998), the unmonitored, unregulated World Wide Web (Web) can operate as a major vehicle for delivering pro-tobacco messages, images, and products to millions of young consumers. A content analysis of 318 randomly sampled pro-tobacco Web sites revealed that tobacco has a pervasive presence on the Web, especially on e-commerce sites and sites featuring hobbies, recreation, and "fetishes." Products can be ordered online on nearly 50% of the sites, but only 23% of the sites included underage verification. Further, only 11% of these sites contain health warnings. Instead, pro-tobacco sites frequently associate smoking with "glamorous" and "alternative" lifestyles, and with images of young males and young (thin, attractive) females. Finally, many of the Web sites offered interactive site features that are potentially appealing to young Web users. Recommendations for future research and counterstrategies are discussed.
Journal of Health Communication 7(4):273-307. · 1.61 Impact Factor
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Traci. Hong
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ABSTRACT: In light of challenges imposed by the changing media landscape and decreasing classroom time available for health interventions, new approaches are needed to disseminate anti-tobacco messages to adolescents. This study reported process evaluation of an in-school three-year anti-tobacco media campaign conducted in 10 schools in Louisiana.
Over three years, 10 schools received an in-school anti-tobacco media campaign. The media campaign was one intervention component of the Acadiana Coalition of Teens against Tobacco. Campaign measures were tracked over the campaign's three-year duration. The campaign and evaluation were designed to target the students as they progressed through high school. The number of students who completed the surveys were 1,823 in Year 1, 1,552 in Year 2, and 1,390 in Year 3. Schools eligible for participation were publicly funded schools with no magnet or special populations and within a two-hour driving distance of the New Orleans study office.
In a self-report survey (Year 1, n = 1,823; Year 2, n = 1,552; Year 3, n = 1,390), more than 75% and 50% of students reported being exposed to posters and public service announcements, respectively. Recognition of campaign theme was more than 80%. Almost half of respondents reported that the posters were interesting, one-third reported that the posters prevented them from smoking, and 10% reported that the posters encouraged them to cease smoking. Stock media posters had a significantly higher affective reaction than the customized media posters.
Findings suggest that in-school media programs are useful and should be considered as a viable approach to health education for adolescents.
Public Health Reports 123(6):781-9. · 1.27 Impact Factor
