Personal Influence and the Effects of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Abstract

Personal Influence (Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955/2006) put forward and tested a variety of hypotheses about how social contexts constrain media effects. Five such hypotheses are described: three about interactions of media exposure with social context (Stability, Conformity, and Instrumental) and two about two-step flow effects (Relay and Message Interpretation). Each is tested here with data from the evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. The evaluation of the campaign has suggested boomerang outcomes—more exposure to the campaign led to more interest in marijuana use. This article examined whether those effects were magnified through interactions with siblings. In general, no evidence showed that older siblings' beliefs or behavior interacted with younger siblings' exposure to campaign messages in producing effects. However, evidence showed that the two-step flow did operate: older siblings were themselves affected by their own exposure to the campaign and, in turn, affected the beliefs and behaviors of their younger brothers and sisters.