The influence of three mass media campaigns on variables related to adolescent cigarette smoking: results of a field experiment.

BACKGROUND: This paper reports findings from a field experiment that evaluated mass media campaigns designed to prevent cigarette smoking by adolescents. METHODS: The campaigns featured radio and television messages on expected consequences of smoking and a component to stimulate personal encouragement of peers not to smoke. Six Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the Southeast United States received campaigns and four served as controls. Adolescents and mothers provided pretest and posttest data in their homes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The radio campaign had a modest influence on the expected consequences of smoking and friend approval of smoking, the more expensive campaigns involving television were not more effective than those with radio alone, the peer-involvement component was not effective, and any potential smoking effects could not be detected

Employees' perceptions of their leaders: Is being similar always better?

Using a sample of middle and upper level managers, the authors examined the effects of employee-supervisor demographic similarity on employees' perceptions of their supervisor's leadership ability. The authors also examined the moderating effects of individuals' needs for self-continuity and the status of the demographic groups on these relationships. Very little evidence was found for direct similarity effects. However, the authors found strong and consistent evidence that employees in high-status demographic groups exhibited a positive relationship between self-continuity and perceptions of their leaders when the leader was demographically similar, whereas employees in low-status demographic groups exhibited a negative relationship between self-continuity and perceptions of their leaders when the leader was demographically similar. Implications for social identity theory and relational demography research are discussed.open1