The Role of Theory in Developing Effective Antidrug Public Service Announcements

Abstract

This chapter shows the relevance of behavioral theory for developing messages to prevent and reduce illicit drug use. It presents the data from a school-based, posttest only, randomized trial evaluating the effectiveness of two sets of antidrug public service announcements. Many theories have been applied to health-related behavioral prevention research—for example, the Social Cognitive Theory, and the Theory of Subjective Culture and Interpersonal Relations—there is growing consensus that there is a limited number of variables that need to be considered in predicting and understanding any given behavior. Social cognitive theory identifies two factors as primary determinants underlying the initiation and persistence of an adaptive behavior. First, the person must have self-efficacy with respect to the behavior. Second, one must have some incentive to perform the behavior. Social cognitive theory has focused on three types of perceived outcomes: physical outcomes, social outcomes, and self-standards.

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