Effects of Framing and Fear on Impact of Condom PSAs

This study investigated the impact of two dimensions of message content: message framing (gain or loss) and level of threat (low or moderate) on the impact of condom-related public service announcements (PSAs) on mediating variables typically found to be related to condom use, including various components of attitudes about condoms, condom norms, condom refusal self-efficacy, intentions to use condoms, perceived seriousness of HIV, and the perceived negative consequences of other STDs or unwanted pregnancy on relationships. A representative sample of 153 undergraduate students at a midwestern university who were not married or engaged, had had sexual intercourse, were Caucasian or African-American, and were between the ages of 18 and 24 completed a pretest online and then attended sessions in which they viewed and provided their reactions to PSAs (control PSAs only; gain-framed, low threat PSAs; gain-framed, moderate threat PSAs; loss-framed, low threat PSAs; or loss-framed, moderate threat PSAs), and then completed a post-test in which the mediating variables were re-assessed. Results showed that moderate threat messages led to greater increases in the perception that STDs and unwanted pregnancy had a negative impact on relationships as compared to low threat messages; moderate threat messages led to greater increases in the perception that condoms were effective at reducing HIV and STDs; and gain-framed messages led to greater perceptions that many or most peers are using condoms than loss-framed PSAs. We discuss the implications of these and other results for the design of messages for campaigns related to condoms and other health-related behaviors.