# Understanding Adolescent In-Vivo Exposure to Alcohol Content in the Media

> **NIH NIH R01** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $656,212

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Initiation of alcohol use typically occurs well before the legal drinking age, which is concerning as early use is
associated with short and long-term adverse outcomes including acute and prolonged neurobiological effects.
For youth, the media constitutes a primary source of learning about alcohol. Entertainment media frequently
features images of and references to alcohol, associating alcohol use with social, sexual, and financial
success, with little depiction of the hazards of drinking. Moreover, alcohol content is easily accessible via new
(digital) media platforms such as social media and YouTube which are highly interactive, allowing for user
engagement through exchange and manipulation of information. Adolescents are high consumers of media
and with the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, youth have anytime, anywhere, on-demand access to
media alcohol content. Yet, virtually no information is known about in vivo exposure to such content in terms of
frequency/duration, medium/format, and context. Study Aim 1 will quantify and characterize in vivo exposure to
alcohol content in entertainment media (film, TV, popular music) and new media (social media, YouTube,
internet, video gaming). Aim 2 will examine bi-directional prospective associations between in vivo exposure to
alcohol media content and alcohol use across short-term and longer-term timeframes and Aim 3 will identify
mechanisms of this association; an exploratory aim will test moderation of these associations by key individual
and contextual risk factors. Etiological research points to several cognitive and social mechanisms underlying
the association between in vivo media alcohol exposure and drinking, including perceived norms, cognitions
(expectancies, drinker prototypes), identity, and attitudes (favorability, evaluative conditioning). Using a 3-wave
measurement burst design, 300 youth age 15-18 will complete a 3-week ecological momentary assessment
(EMA) protocol using a Smartphone app. Participants will be asked to provide event-level information upon
encountering alcohol content and if possible, to upload a screenshot, photo, or text description of the exposure.
Event surveys are paired with random-prompted EMA surveys as well as weekly surveys assessing alcohol
use and longer surveys prior to each burst to measure risk factors and media utilization. Existing media
intervention programs are unequipped to handle new media, fail to target adolescents, a group arguably at
greatest need for intervention, and do not target media as it is experienced in vivo on portable devices. Fine-
grained ecological studies such as this are needed to shape the content of just-in-time (JiT) interventions and
to inform the best timing of intervention delivery, with the goal of producing reductions in underage alcohol use.
In Aim 4, focus groups with a subset (n=48) of participants will provide understanding of the perceived impact
of alcohol-related media content on behavior and cog...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10450151
- **Project number:** 5R01AA027968-03
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristina Melia Jackson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $656,212
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-10 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10450151

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10450151, Understanding Adolescent In-Vivo Exposure to Alcohol Content in the Media (5R01AA027968-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10450151. Licensed CC0.

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