Media Literacy
2
Media Literacy and Smoking Prevention Among Adolescents: A Year-Two Evaluation of the
American Legacy Foundation/Washington State Department of Health Anti-Tobacco Campaign
Tobacco use among teens is one of the foremost preventable causes of death (Warren,
Riley, Asthma, & Eriksen, 2000). Results of the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse revealed that 4 million adolescents in the United States smoke. More than half of regular
smokers begin to use tobacco before starting high school (McAlister, Perry, & Maccoby, 1979).
Research indicates smokers who begin to use tobacco earlier suffer from greater incidences of
smoking related illnesses in their later years (DHHS, 1989). Because of this, experts suggest that
tobacco use prevention campaigns target adolescents to increase their potential for success (Elder
& Stern, 1986; Killen, 1985; Pfau, Van Brockern, & Kang, 1992). Accordingly, the U.S.
Surgeon General suggests educational training may help postpone or prevent smoking onset in
20% to 40% of U.S. adolescents (2001).
Media literacy training offers a relatively new, promising avenue for tobacco use
prevention campaigns. Media literacy training—which generally teaches young people how to
understand and create mediated messages—is a potentially important component of substance-
abuse prevention campaigns directed to younger audiences. Researchers and public policy
specialists are increasingly recognizing the importance of media literacy training as evidenced by
the White House Office of Drug Control Policy’s official endorsement of media literacy training
as a drug prevention strategy (White House, 2002). Unfortunately, relatively few empirical
evaluations of media literacy interventions exist. This makes it difficult for health campaign
practitioners to use media literacy effectively in tobacco use prevention and related campaigns.
Convention