BY DAVE BOYER
During the 1980's, there was an ever-increasing consciousness that the public should be informed about the potential risks of using substances. During this time, three acts of legislation related to the following research were enacted: (a) The Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1984, (b) The Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, and (c) The Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988. MacKinnon and Fenaughty (1993) assert that the reasoning underlying substance-labeling acts is that a substance user repeatedly exposed to health warnings regarding the substance will be more likely to remember the potential risks. In two nearly identical studies MacKinnon and Fenaughty attempted to show that the extent of use of alcohol or tobacco and memory of specific content of warning labels for these substances were related.
In the first study, 288 Arizona State undergraduates, 62% of which were male, 85% were white, with an average age of 19.1 years, were given a recognition test for warning labels on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Included in the test were four health risks included on cigarette warning labels and four risks that were not included. These were used as distracters. Also included, were three risks that were included on smokeless tobacco warnings and three distracter risks. Correlation tests revealed that the amount of cigarettes participants smoked was positively correlated with the accuracy of memory for the content of cigarette warning labels. Also, a significant positive correlation was found between the amount of smokeless tobacco used and accurate recall of smokeless tobacco warnings. Discriminant validity was evidenced in that cigarette smoking was not predictive for recall of smokeless tobacco warnings and smokeless tobacco use was not found to be predictive for recall of cigarette warnings.
In the second study, 243 Arizona State undergraduate Introductory Psychology student, 53% of which were male, 77% were white, with an average age of 19.8 years participated. This research sought to replicate the findings of the previous study as well as extend these findings to the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumption and the accuracy of memory for alcohol warning labels. The findings of the previous study were replicated. It was also found that the amount of alcohol consumed was positively correlated with memory for alcohol health warning labels. Once again discriminant validity was evident across substances and their corresponding warning labels.
Both of these studies yielded correlation coefficients that were of medium strength. Researches pointed to some possible reasons for medium correlation effects (none were above .34). First, data collected was from an ordinal, self-report measure and may lack in reliability. Second, some of the substance users may have had the proclivity to deny health risks of substance use and therefore not paid as much attention to warning labels. Third, non-substance users have had much exposure to warnings from the advertising media. Finally, exposure to health warning labels may have reduced substance use. As an additional note, as research with undergraduate college students is often difficult to generalize to other populations for reasons of age and race, so it might be that a cohort effect might also exist with regard to awareness of warning labels.
It was suggested that the findings of these studies indicate that the heavier users of substances, those most likely to develop health problems from their substance use, are also the most likely to remember the health warnings on the labels. In turn, from a preventative angle, it could reasonably be assumed that the more exposure to health warnings the public receives, the more aware of potential health risks they will be, possibly averting a measure of substance use.
This research appears to have found substantial value for the inclusion of health warnings on potentially harmful substances. Areas for future research may wish to include studies investigating the labeling of prescription medications and whether the present labeling has ameliorative effects on prescription medication abuse. Also, along this line, studies could investigate methods of labeling prescription medications that would better meet this goal.
REFERENCE
MacKinnon, D.P., & Fenaughty, A.M. (1993). Substance Use and Memory for Health Warning Labels. Health Psychology, 12(2), 147-150.