Few Americans lives have been left untouched by the epidemic of drug use in this society. While a variety of intervention strategies can be directed at such a problem, a media-based approach has the advantage of reaching a wide segment of the population of users and of influencing potential users. The current study is aimed at assessing the impact of a broadly based media campaign (Media-Advertising Partnership for a Drug-Free America) on drug- related attitudes and reported drug use. It has employed a mall-intercept methodology sampling over 7500 respondents each year using national demographic data to approximate as closely as possible a national probability survey. Data have been collected for 3 years to date. This application proposes to collect data for years 4 and 5 so the effects of a 4 year media campaign effects are to include: temporal relationship of attitudinal and intention changes to reported use changes, extent of impact on different population groups (children, teenagers, college students and adults), impact on marijuana vs cocaine use, impact on regular vs occasional users within each population group, differential effects of high vs low media exposure frequency, and duration of the effectiveness of the campaign. Depending upon the specific question to be addressed, statistical procedures include analysis of variance, chi-square analyses, and, for assessing comparative rates of changes in variables, polynomial regression and time series analysis. Development and verification of an effective media intervention strategy raises the possibility of affecting a broad base of drug users, who might subsequently benefit from more interpersonal intervention strategies, and of preventing initiation of drug use in the younger population.
