Recognize & Resist: An Online Health Intervention to Promote Writing About Sexual Consent and Egalitarian Gender Roles Among One Direction Fanfiction Writers

This paper focuses on the development and feasibility of a digitally-based educational intervention, titled Recognize & Resist (R&R), for writers of One Direction (1D) fanfiction on Wattpad.com. The goal of R&R is to reduce the prevalence of social norms that are supportive of sexual violence within 1D fanfiction. 1D fanfictions, or fictional romance stories written by fans of this British boy band, have hundreds of millions of views on Wattpad.com. Formative research has found that social norms supportive of sexual violence are prevalent in 1D fanfictions and that some authors have internalized these norms. R&R aims to motivate 1D fanfiction writers to highlight sexual consent and egalitarian gender roles in their writing. To evaluate the intervention's feasibility, 15 1D fanfiction authors completed a survey and participated in an interview or focus group. Results demonstrate R&R's feasibility, with high ratings of its acceptability and demand. Insights from the interviews and focus groups provide suggestions for revising R&R before rigorously evaluating its efficacy. Additionally, results demonstrate the utility of using popular culture as a vehicle for attitude-change regarding sensitive health issues.

Comprehensive mandatory policies are needed to fully protect all children from unhealthy food marketing

The World Health Organization (WHO) have released a new guideline, "Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing" [1] which recommends the development of comprehensive laws to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing. This new guideline extends previous recommendations [2] to limit the adverse effects of unhealthy food marketing on the health of the world's children. We consider here whether these new recommendations go far enough.

Design and approval of the nutritional warnings' policy in Peru: Milestones, key stakeholders, and policy drivers for its approval

Nutritional warnings are used as a public health strategy to address obesity. Peru approved in 2013 and implemented in 2019 a law requiring nutritional warnings on the marketing and packaging of processed foods high in sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and containing trans-fat. The complexity behind the design and approval of these policies over six years provides unique learnings, that inform the obesity prevention context, especially when proposed policies face strong opposition from powerful stakeholders. Our study aims to describe the milestones and key stakeholders' roles and stances during the nutritional warnings policy design in Peru, and to identify and analyze the main drivers of policy change that explain its approval. In 2021, interviews were conducted with 25 key informants closely involved in its design. Interviews were analyzed using the Kaleidoscope Model as a theoretical framework. Relevant policy documents and news were also analyzed. Milestones for this policy included the approval of the Law, Regulation, and Manual. Policy supporters were mainly from Congress, civil society advocates, and Health Ministers. Opponents came from Congress, ministries linked to the economic sector, the food industry, and media. Across the years, warnings evolved from a single text, to traffic lights, to the approved black octagons. Main challenges included the strong opposition of powerful stakeholders, the lack of agreement for defining the appropriate evidence supporting nutritional warning parameters and design, and the political instability of the country. Based on the Kaleidoscope Model, the policy successfully targeted a relevant problem (unhealthy eating decisions) and had powerful advocates who effectively used focusing events to reposition the warnings in the policy agenda across the years. Negotiations weakened the policy but led to its approval. Importantly, government veto players were mostly in favor of the policy, which enabled its final approval despite the strong opposition.

Restricting child-directed ads is effective, but adding a time-based ban is better: evaluating a multi-phase regulation to protect children from unhealthy food marketing on television

BACKGROUND

As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, health organizations have called for regulations that protect children from exposure to unhealthy food marketing. In this study, we evaluate the impact of child-based versus time-based restrictions of "high-in" food and beverage advertising in Chile, which first restricted the placement of "high-in" advertisements (ads) in television attracting children and the use of child-directed content in high-in ads and, second, banned high-in ads from 6am-10pm. "High-in" refers to products above regulation-defined thresholds in energy, saturated fats, sugars, and/or sodium. High-in advertising prevalence and children's exposure to high-in advertising are assessed.

METHODS

We analyzed a random stratified sample of advertising from two constructed weeks of television at pre-regulation (2016), after Phase 1 child-based advertising restrictions (2017, 2018), and after the Phase 2 addition of a 6am-10pm high-in advertising ban (2019). High-in ad prevalence in post-regulation years were compared to prior years to assess changes in prevalence. We also analyzed television ratings data for the 4-12 year-old child audience to estimate children's ad exposure.

RESULTS

Compared to pre-regulation, high-in ads decreased after Phase 1 (2017) by 42% across television (41% between 6am-10pm, 44% from 10pm-12am) and 29% in programs attracting children (P < 0.01). High-in ads further decreased after Phase 2, reaching a 64% drop from pre-regulation across television (66% between 6am-10pm, 56% from 10pm-12am) and a 77% drop in programs attracting children (P < 0.01). High-in ads with child-directed ad content also dropped across television in Phase 1 (by 41%) and Phase 2 (by 67%), compared to pre-regulation (P < 0.01). Except for high-in ads from 10pm-12am, decreases in high-in ads between Phase 1 (2018) and Phase 2 were significant (P < 0.01). Children's high-in ad exposure decreased by 57% after Phase 1 and by 73% after Phase 2 (P < 0.001), compared to pre-regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Chile's regulation most effectively reduced children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing with combined child-based and time-based restrictions. Challenges remain with compliance and limits in the regulation, as high-in ads were not eliminated from television. Yet, having a 6am-10pm ban is clearly critical for maximizing the design and implementation of policies that protect children from unhealthy food marketing.

Front-of-package claims & imagery on fruit-flavored drinks and exposure by household demographics

Young children regularly consume sugary fruit drinks, in part because parents may falsely believe they are healthful due to front-of-package (FOP) claims and imagery. The goal of this study was to assess: 1) the prevalence of FOP claims/imagery on fruit-flavored beverages purchased by U.S. households with 0-5-year-olds, and 2) proportional differences in beverages purchased with FOP claims/imagery across household demographic groups. A content analysis of FOP claims/imagery (e.g., nutrient claims, fruit imagery) on beverages (n = 1365) purchased by households with 0-5-year-olds was conducted by linking beverage sales with FOP marketing data. Results were merged with purchasing data from a nationally representative sample of households (FoodAPS), and survey-weighted logistic regression was used to assess differences in the proportions of 100% juices and fruit drinks with specific FOP claims/imagery purchased by household race/ethnicity, income, and SNAP/WIC participation. The most common claims on fruit-flavored beverages included nutrient claims (fruit drinks: 73%; 100% juices: 68%; flavored waters: 95%), which most commonly highlighted vitamin C (35-41% across beverage categories) and the absence of sugar (31-48%). Most beverages also contained implied-natural claims (fruit drinks: 60%; 100% juices: 64%; flavored waters: 95%) and natural imagery (fruit drinks: 97%; 100% juices: 96%; flavored waters: 73%). A large proportion of fruit drinks and 100% juices purchased by households across all demographic groups contained FOP claims and imagery, with a few minor differences between racial/ethnic groups. In conclusion, most fruit drinks, 100% juices, and flavored waters purchased by households with 0-5-year-olds contained FOP claims and imagery that may lead consumers to believe the beverages are healthy and natural. FDA regulations should ensure parents are not misled by this marketing.

Claims on Ready-to-Eat Cereals: Are Those With Claims Healthier?

Background: The use of advertising content strategies that suggest consuming a product will confer nutrient- and health-related benefits influences household food purchasing decisions, which increases consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor products. We examined the presence of marketing claims regarding nutrient content, health and nature in ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal packages in relation to the products' nutritional quality.

Methods: A cross-sectional content analysis was conducted on 178 RTE cereal packages available in the six largest supermarket chains in four Colombian cities from August to November 2018. The nutritional quality of products was assessed through the nutrient profile model established by the Chilean Law of Food Labeling and Advertising law.

Results: All products sampled exceeded the regulation threshold for at least one nutrient of concern (e.g., high-in calories and/or sugar). The majority (66.3%) of packages had claims related to nature, 57.3% had nutrient-content claims, and 15.7% had health benefit or risk avoidance claims. Most products with nature, nutrient-content, and health claims were high in energy (99.2, 98.0, and 92.9%, respectively) and sugar (88.1, 87.3, and 92.9%, respectively).

Conclusion: RTE cereal products offered in major Colombian supermarket chains are heavily marketed using nutrition- and nature-related claims. Nearly all products with claims are high in energy and sugar, despite the messages conveyed by the claims to consumers. Results support the implementation of mandatory regulations restricting claims on food and beverage products high in nutrients of concern.

How current and potential pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users experience, negotiate and manage stigma: disclosures and backstage processes in online discourse

Research on stigma as a barrier to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake for reducing risk of HIV infection has focused on the experience of stigma-othering, shaming and blaming and the associated negative social consequences of this stigmatisation. This study expands this focus to examine how current and potential users of PrEP discuss their experiences of stigmatisation, in addition to their anticipation, preparation and management of stigmatising encounters. The corpus of testimonial blog posts from the "My PrEP Experience" website, reader comments on those posts, and information available through hyperlinks in the posts and comments, were subjected to a qualitative textual analysis. Findings revealed stigmatising labels and perceptions identified in other PrEP and HIV-related stigma research. Findings also revealed the active seeking and sharing of strategies for coping with and challenging stigma, including the creative re-appropriation of negative labels and calls for advocacy. The discussion considers how the described preparation and management strategies can inform future efforts to reduce stigma and encourage PrEP uptake.

Impact of warning labels on reducing health halo effects of nutrient content claims on breakfast cereal packages: A mixed-measures experiment

Chile recently implemented a food labeling law that requires packaged foods with sugar, saturated fats, sodium, and/or calorie content that exceeds government-defined thresholds to carry a front-of-package warning for each excessive nutrient. This law does not prohibit the use of nutrient content (NC) marketing claims on packages, as long as the claims do not directly contradict the warnings. Yet, having NC claims alongside nutrient warnings might send mixed messages confusing consumers about the overall healthiness of a product. The present study tests the co-occurrence of warning labels and NC claims in breakfast cereal packages on product perceptions and behavioral intentions of Chilean adults in a 3 (warnings: none, high calorie, high calorie/high sugar) × 3 (NC claims: none, fiber/wholegrain, low fat/cholesterol-free) mixed-measures experiment. Fiber-related claims had a main effect leading to more positive ratings of the product, compared to having no NC claims or fat-related claims. These positive ratings extended beyond perceptions of the fiber content to perceptions of overall healthiness, naturalness, quality, vitamin content, and intentions to purchase and recommend the product-a health halo effect. No significant interaction between warnings and NC claims was found. However, warnings had a main effect on perceptions irrespective of the presence of NC claims, with one warning significantly reducing ratings, dampening any halo effects, and two warnings further dampening any effects. These findings indicate that warning labels can mitigate, but not eliminate the influences of NC claims on consumer perceptions of product healthiness.

A Content Analysis of Mental Health Discourse in Popular Rap Music

IMPORTANCE

Rap artists are among the most recognizable celebrities in the US, serving as role models to an increasingly diverse audience of listeners. Through their lyrics, these artists have the potential to shape mental health discourse and reduce stigma.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence and nature of mental health themes in popular rap music amid a period of documented increases in mental health distress and suicide risk among young people in the US and young Black/African American male individuals in particular.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Lyric sheets from the 25 most popular rap songs in the US in 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018, totaling  125 songs, were analyzed by 2 trained coders from March 1 to April 15, 2019, for references to anxiety, depression, suicide, metaphors suggesting mental health struggles, and stressors associated with mental health risk.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Mental health references were identified and categorized based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) and Mayo Clinic definitions. Stressors included issues with authorities, environmental conditions, work, and love life. Descriptive language and trend analyses were used to examine changes over time in the proportion of songs with mental health references. Stressors were analyzed for their co-occurrence with mental health references.

RESULTS

Most of the 125 analyzed songs featured lead artists from North America (123 [98%]). Most lead artists were Black/African American male individuals (97 [78%]), and artists' mean (SD) age was 28.2 (4.5) years. Across the sample, 35 songs (28%) referenced anxiety; 28 (22%) referenced depression; 8 (6%) referenced suicide; and 26 (21%) used a mental health metaphor. Significant increases were found from 1998 to 2018 in the proportion of songs referencing suicide (0% to 12%), depression (16% to 32%), and mental health metaphors (8% to 44%). Stressors related to environmental conditions (adjusted odds ratio, 8.1; 95% CI, 2.1-32.0) and love life (adjusted odds ratio, 4.8; 95% CI, 1.3-18.1) were most likely to co-occur with lyrics referencing mental health.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

References to mental health struggles have increased significantly in popular rap music from 1998 to 2018. Future research is needed to examine the potential positive and negative effects these increasingly prevalent messages may have in shaping mental health discourse and behavioral intentions for US youth.

Nutrition Claims on Fruit Drinks Are Inconsistent Indicators of Nutritional Profile: A Content Analysis of Fruit Drinks Purchased by Households With Young Children

BACKGROUND

Fruit drinks are the most commonly consumed sugar-sweetened beverage among young children. Fruit drinks carry many nutrition-related claims on the front of package (FOP). Nutrition-related claims affect individuals' perceptions of the healthfulness of products and purchase intentions, often creating a "health halo" effect.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of FOP nutrition-related claims on fruit drinks purchased by households with young children and to examine the association between claims and the nutritional profile of fruit drinks.

DESIGN

The sample included 2059 fruit drinks purchased by households with children 0 to 5 years old participating in Nielsen Homescan in 2017. FOP labels were obtained from 2 databases that contain bar code-level information on all printed material on product labels. A codebook was used to code for presence of FOP nutrition-related claims. The coded claims data were linked by bar code with Nutrition Facts label data. Claim type prevalence was calculated, and the association between claim types and median calories and total grams of sugar per 100 mL was analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The percentages of products containing noncaloric sweeteners (NCSs) with and without each claim type were also calculated and compared.

RESULTS

Almost all (97%) fruit drinks sampled had at least 1 nutrition-related FOP claim. Implied natural claims such as "natural flavors" were the most common (55% of products), followed by claims about the presence of juice or nectar (49%). Claims about vitamin C (33%), sugar (29%), and calories (23%) were also common. Fruit drinks with vitamin C, juice or nectar, fruit or fruit flavor, and overt natural claims were higher in calories and sugar and less likely to contain NCSs compared with products without these claims. Fruit drinks with calorie, sugar, NCS, implied natural, and other claims were lower in calories and sugar and more likely to contain NCSs compared with products without these claims.

CONCLUSIONS

Claims are prevalent on fruit drinks purchased by households with young children. This is concerning given prior research demonstrating that claims can mislead consumers. Regulatory actions such as requiring a warning or disclosure on drinks that contain added sugars or NCSs should be considered.

Extent and nutritional quality of foods and beverages to which children are exposed in Colombian TV food advertising

OBJECTIVE

To examine children's exposure to food and beverage advertising across a year of Colombian television based on whether products exceed Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)-defined nutrient thresholds.

DESIGN

Nutritional information was obtained for all foods and beverages advertised and used to categorise each product according to the product category (e.g. beverage, snack food) and nutritional quality based on the PAHO model for identifying products in excess of free sugars, Na or saturated fat or containing non-caloric sweeteners or trans-fat. Television audience ratings data were used to derive the average child audience (unique child viewers) per ad and the number of times ads were seen by children in a single week (weekly impressions) based on product category and nutritional quality.

SETTING

All food and beverage ads on cable and over-the-air TV in Colombia in 2017.

PARTICIPANTS

N/A.

RESULTS

Of all instances of TV ads, 89·3 % were of unhealthy products. A larger proportion of male and female children, as well as children from low (88·01 %), mid (89·10 %) and high (89·10 %) socio-economic status, are exposed to advertising of unhealthy products, but no significant difference was found between these proportions.

CONCLUSION

The majority of foods and beverages advertised to Colombian children are unhealthy. These findings highlight a need to implement statutory measures to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food advertising in Colombia, as obesity and overweight have been increasing among school-age children in Colombia, and exposure to television advertising of unhealthy foods is a known contributor to children's food intake and obesity.

Food Advertising on Television Before and After a National Unhealthy Food Marketing Regulation in Chile, 2016-2017

Objectives. To study changes in food advertising on television after Chile's food marketing restriction was implemented in June 2016.Methods. Food advertisements shown between 6 am and 12 am on the 4 primary broadcast and 4 cable channels with the largest Chilean youth audiences during 2 random weeks in April and May 2016 and 2017 were analyzed for product nutrition and child-directed marketing.Results. The percentage of ads for foods high in energy, saturated fats, sugars, or sodium (HEFSS) decreased from 41.9% before the regulation to 14.8% after the regulation (P < .001). This decrease occurred in programs intended for children (from 49.7% to 12.7%; P < .001) as well as general audiences (from 38.5% to 15.7%; P < .001). The largest declines were seen for sodas, desserts, breakfast cereals and industrialized fruit- and vegetable-flavored drinks. Fewer HEFSS ads featured child-directed content (a decrease from 44.0% to 12.0%; P < .001), and the remaining child-directed HEFSS ads primarily aired on internationally owned cable channels.Conclusions. The significant postregulation decrease in the prevalence of HEFSS television ads suggests that children in Chile are now less exposed to unhealthy food advertising. However, television originating from national and international outlets should still be monitored for compliance.

"Responses to the Chilean law of food labeling and advertising: exploring knowledge, perceptions and behaviors of mothers of young children"

Background

In line with calls for action from international health organizations, Chile implemented in June 2016 a set of regulations to tackle the obesity epidemic. The new regulation includes the mandatory use of front-of-package warning labels on packaged foods/beverages high in energy, sugars, saturated fats and sodium. Additionally, such foods cannot be sold nor offered in daycares/schools and cannot be promoted to children under 14yo. The law is targeted to children; thus, this study examined mothers’ understanding, perceptions, and behaviors associated with the regulation one year after its implementation, using a qualitative approach.

Methods

Nine focus groups of mothers (7–10 people each) of children (2-14yo) were conducted in July 2017 in Santiago-Chile. They were stratified by socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s age. Macrocodes were developed by three researchers, combining an iterative process of deductive and inductive thematic analyses. Quotations representing each category were selected.

Results

Mothers understood the new regulation as a policy to fight child obesity and were aware that products with more labels were less healthy than products with fewer labels. Attention and use of labels in the buying decision-making process ranged from participants who did not pay attention to others who relied on them as a quick shortcut (mostly from middle and upper-SES); many mothers indicated changing their purchase habits only when buying new products. Mothers declared that young children accepted school environment changes while teens/preteens resisted them more. Many mothers agreed that schools have become key promoters of food behavioral change. Mothers were less aware about the food marketing regulations. Mothers declared that they perceived that the regulation was changing the perceptions, attitudes and behaviors toward healthier eating patterns.

Conclusion

After the first year of implementation, the regulation was well known by mothers of diverse SES and different children ages. The degree of use of warning labels was heterogeneous among participants, but most of them agreed that their children, particularly the youngest have positive attitudes toward the regulation and have become promoters of change in their families. Many mothers also expressed that they perceived an important shift toward healthier eating, which may lead to a change in eating social norms. This information contributes to better understand how regulatory actions may influence people’s consumer behaviors.

Priming Sexual and Romantic Representations in Two Media Environments: Sex Encourages and Romance Discourages Sexual Permissiveness … Sometimes

Two experiments (Ns = 314, 447) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of sexual cues in temporarily increasing young adults' self-reported sexual permissiveness, as well as the effects of romantic cues in temporarily decreasing permissiveness. Participants were exposed to sexual or romantic cues embedded as a theme-defining component of an online game (Study 1) or in advertisements peripheral to the online game (Study 2). Sexual and romantic conditions were compared against a control condition. As hypothesized, participants in the romantic conditions rated themselves lower in sexual permissiveness, compared to participants in the sexual and control conditions, particularly when participants positively evaluated the online game experience. Findings suggest that exposure to entertaining media depictions of two people, as a committed couple, expressing love, as well as lust, for each other might deter young adults from considering engagement in casual sexual encounters indicative of "hookup culture."

Sex, Love, and Risk-n-Responsibility: A Content Analysis of Entertainment Television

This study documents the extent of sexual content, including sexual health content, in scenes with and without expressions of love on network and cable television popular with emerging adults. Sexual talk and/or behavior was found in 20% of all television scenes coded across 53.5 hours of programming. A third of these scenes featured sex alongside expressions of love. An additional 10% of scenes suggested love but not sex. Coded as a separate category, 25% of analyzed scenes contained a passing joke or pun referencing sexual organs, making these non-specific comedic one-liners the predominant reference to sex in this sample. Beyond jokes, most of the sexual or loving talk in this sample consisted of expressing a romantic interest in someone; sex- and love-related behaviors largely consisted of kissing or flirting. Very few scenes specifically referenced sexual intercourse. Sexual health messages were also rare. The majority of scenes mentioning any health consequence (= 7% of analyzed scenes) concerned emotional heartache. One scene mentioned sexually-transmitted infections; 12 of the nearly 2,600 scenes coded mentioned condoms or contraceptives. It is thus a challenging proposition to build upon existing sexual depictions on television to promote safe sex practices within sexual and loving contexts.

Young Adults' Information Seeking Following Celebrity Suicide: Considering Involvement With the Celebrity and Emotional Distress in Health Communication Strategies

Young adults (N = 357) were surveyed following the suicide of celebrity Robin Williams to better understand how involvement with the actor and emotional responses to his death influenced searches for information concerning depression, suicide, and mental health. Emotional distress following the actor's death mediated the relationship between involvement and certain types of information searches. Most respondents sought information about the celebrity's career, suicide, and depression using portable devices such as smartphones and laptop computers to access news websites for information. Those respondents who sought information about the suicide reported changes in their thoughts about suicide, most often dealing with the difficulty in spotting warning signs and the idea that "it can happen to anyone." Findings suggest placement of health messages within existing material about celebrity announcements on online websites and social media to drive more traffic toward general informational outlets. Messages that acknowledge emotional distress might be best placed within content specific to the celebrity's tragedy, rather than specific to the celebrity's career or performances.

Using ecological momentary assessment to determine media use by individuals with and without major depressive disorder

OBJECTIVE

To use ecological momentary assessment techniques to measure the association of major depressive disorder (MDD) with media use.

DESIGN

Data were collected using an ecological momentary assessment protocol with cellular telephone-based brief interviews.

SETTING

Participants received as many as 60 telephone calls from a trained staff member during 5 extended weekends in an 8-week period.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred six adolescent participants who were part of a larger neurobehavioral study of depression in Pittsburgh from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2008.

MAIN EXPOSURE

At each call, participants were asked whether they were using the following 5 types of media: television or movies, music, video games, Internet, and print media, such as magazines, newspapers, and books.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

We developed multivariable models to determine the independent association of each type of media use with MDD, controlling for sociodemographic variables.

RESULTS

Of the 106 participants, 46 were diagnosed as having MDD. In multivariable models controlling for age, sex, and race, each increasing quartile of audio use was associated with an 80% increase in the odds of having MDD (odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.8; P = .01 for trend). Conversely, each increasing quartile of print media use was associated with a 50% decrease in the odds of having MDD (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% confidence interval, 0.3-0.9; P = .009 for trend).

CONCLUSIONS

Major depressive disorder is positively associated with popular music exposure and negatively associated with reading print media such as books. Further research elucidating the directionality and strength of these relationships may help advance understanding of the relationships between media use and MDD.

Sad Kids, Sad Media? Applying Mood Management Theory to Depressed Adolescents' Use of Media

Mood management studies typically have found that adults will select media that enhance positive moods and reduce negative moods. In this study, adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder and control adolescents without psychiatric disorders were called on customized cell phones up to 4 times a day and asked about their current mood state and media use for five extended weekends across an 8-week period. Mood effects on subsequent media use, mood during media consumption, and media effects on subsequent mood were examined. Results indicated that adolescents who consumed fun media tended to do so in a way that sustained, rather than enhanced their prior positive mood levels during and after consumption-if they turned to media. Adolescents in more negative moods did not often use media to improve their moods. When they did, boys were more likely than girls to use media that ultimately reduced negative mood levels. Findings are discussed in light of the literature on mood management, adolescence, and depression.

Engaging Mexican origin families in a school-based preventive intervention

This study describes a culturally sensitive approach to engage Mexican origin families in a school-based, family-focused preventive intervention trial. The approach was evaluated via assessing study enrollment and intervention program participation, as well as examining predictors of engagement at each stage. Incorporating traditional cultural values into all aspects of engagement resulted in participation rates higher than reported rates of minority-focused trials not emphasizing cultural sensitivity. Family preferred language (English or Spanish) or acculturation status predicted engagement at all levels, with less acculturated families participating at higher rates. Spanish-language families with less acculturated adolescents participated at higher rates than Spanish-language families with more acculturated adolescents. Other findings included two-way interactions between family language and the target child's familism values, family single- vs. dual-parent status, and number of hours the primary parent worked in predicting intervention participation. EDITORS' STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS: The authors present a promising approach-which requires replication-to engaging and retaining Mexican American families in a school-based prevention program. The research also highlights the importance of considering acculturation status when implementing and studying culturally tailored aspects of prevention models.