Yvonne Terry-McElrath, MSA¹, Melanie Wakefield, PhD², Sherry Emery, PhD³, Henry Saffer, PhD⁴, Glen Szczypka³, Patrick O'Malley, PhD¹, Lloyd Johnston, PhD¹, Frank Chaloupka, PhD³, and Brian Flay, DPhil³. (1) Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Room 2341, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2321, 734-647-9142, yterry@isr.mich.edu, (2) Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, 100 Drummond Street, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia, (3) Health Research and Policy Centers, University of Illinois at Chicago, 850 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60607, (4) National Bureau for Economic Research, 365 Fifth Avenue 5th Floor, New York, NY 10017-5405

Previous national research has indicated that among American youth in general, potential exposure to televised state-sponsored anti-smoking advertising is related to higher recall of advertising, increases in anti-tobacco attitudes and beliefs and decreased smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption (Emery et al., 2003). As policy makers and anti-tobacco activists struggle to make difficult decisions on how to continue anti-tobacco media campaigns, and whether or not to focus on developing ads targeting specific population sub-groups, additional research investigating sub-population effects of such advertising is urgently needed. This paper begins to provide such data by analyzing gender and racial/ethnic differences in relationships between targeted rating points (TRPs) measuring potential exposure to individual smoking-related advertisements at the media-market level, and individual student self-reported data on smoking-related attitudes and beliefs (using data from the 1999-2000 Monitoring the Future surveys). While controlling for other tobacco-related television advertising, as well as individual and environmental factors usually associated with youth smoking, results indicate that state-sponsored anti-smoking advertising (a) appears to relate to decreased smoking-related behaviors and increased anti-tobacco related beliefs relatively equally across gender; (b) is related to decreased smoking prevalence across virtually all gender and racial/ethnic groups; and (c) shows the strongest relationships with anti-tobacco outcomes among White youth. Televised state anti-tobacco advertising campaigns appear to represent a strategy that positively influences youth of all gender and racial/ethnic groups, and deserves primacy in state tobacco control funding efforts. Funded by the NCI State and Community Tobacco Control Initiative (#R01 CA86273-01).

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Recognize the importance of understanding sub-population differences in demonstrated relationships between anti-tobacco television advertising and anti-tobacco beliefs and behaviors.
• Describe the observed similarities and differences by gender and race/ethnicity in relationships between potential exposure to state anti-tobacco advertising and smoking-related beliefs and behaviors.
• Discuss the policy implications of the presence or absence of sub-population differences in terms of continued funding for anti-tobacco advertising and distribution of such advertising across programming and networks.

Keywords: Tobacco Policy, Youth

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.