Open Access Publications

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Open access publications by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in the Department of Communications.

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Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS 2)
(Computers in Human Behavior, 2010-04-03) Caplan, Scott E.
This study tested an updated cognitive-behavioral model of generalized problematic Internet use and reports results of a confirmatory analysis of the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2). Overall, the results indicated that a preference for online social interaction and use of the Internet for mood regulation, predict deficient self-regulation of Internet use (i.e., compulsive Internet use and a cognitive preoccupation with the Internet). In turn, deficient self-regulation was a significant predictor of the extent to which one’s Internet use led to negative outcomes. Results indicated the model fit the data well and variables in the model accounted for 27% of the variance in mood regulation scores, 65% of variance in participants’ deficient self-regulation scores, and 61% of variance in the negative outcome scores.
Media Messages and U.S. Public Opinion about Artificial Intelligence
(Department of Communication, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 2020-08) Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Obozintsev, Lucy; Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David
A national survey conducted March 17-27, 2020 and supervised by researchers at the University of Delaware finds that the American public holds favorable but wary views on artificial intelligence (AI). Most Americans support the development of AI, a plurality support public funding for it, and few support banning it. A majority also favor regulating the technology. The survey finds widespread support for AI uses involving military drones and diagnosing diseases, but opinions are more divided on self-driving vehicles and facial identification. Americans are similarly divided on whether AI will have mostly positive or mixed effects on society. Only a small percentage believe the technology will do more harm than good. Most Americans are hopeful that AI will create jobs, improve health care, help stop harmful content online, prevent terrorism, catch criminals, and make day-to-day life easier. Yet large majorities are worried that AI will eliminate jobs, invade people’s privacy, help spread harmful content online, and enable cyber-attacks. More than half of Americans also say they worry that AI may eventually pose a threat to the existence of the human race. The public trusts university researchers, technology companies, and the U.S. military to develop and use AI. By contrast, only one in three Americans trusts the government in Washington to do so. Experiences with media and technology are linked to positive views of AI, and messages about the technology shape opinions toward it.
U.S. Public Opinion about Artificial Intelligence: Declining Support for Development and Divided Views on Facial Recognition
(Department of Communication, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 2020-12) Brewer, Paul; Wilson, David; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Obozintsev, Lucy
A national survey supervised by researchers at the University of Delaware finds that the American public holds favorable views on artificial intelligence but also worries about its implications. This study, conducted in fall 2020, re-interviewed 1,205 respondents who took part in a March 2020 survey supervised by the same research team. Public opinion about AI was largely stable across the two waves of the study. The new survey found that most Americans favor regulating the technology, a majority support developing it, a plurality favor public funding for it, and few support banning it. However, support for developing AI has declined by 7 percentage points. The new survey also found ongoing support for AI uses involving military drones and diagnosing diseases. Opinions are more divided on self-driving vehicles, and support for facial identification applications has eroded. Americans remain split on whether AI will have mostly positive or mixed effects on society, though only a small percentage believe the technology will do more harm than good. Most Americans continue to say they are hopeful that AI will create jobs, improve health care, help stop harmful content online, prevent terrorism, catch criminals, and make day-to-day life easier. Yet some of these hopes have faded. Moreover, large majorities are still worried that AI will eliminate jobs, invade people’s privacy, help spread harmful content online, and enable cyber-attacks. More than half of Americans say they worry that AI may eventually pose a threat to the existence of the human race. The survey results show that the public trusts university researchers, the U.S. military, and technology companies to develop and use AI. Meanwhile, fewer than one in three Americans trusts the government in Washington to do so. Most Americans support law enforcement agencies using facial recognition technology to identify suspected criminals. However, public opinion is divided on whether law enforcement agencies should use facial recognition technology to monitor public protests.
Psychosocial Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccination Intention Among White, Black, and Hispanic Adults in the US
(Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2021-10-01) Bleakley, Amy; Hennessy, Michael; Maloney, Erin; Young, Dannagal G.; Crowley, John; Silk, Kami; Langbaum, Jessica B.
Background: COVID-19 vaccine uptake is an urgent public health priority. Purpose: To identify psychosocial determinants (attitudes, normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control) of COVID-19 vaccination intentions for U.S. White, Black, and Hispanic adults, and how COVID-19 misperceptions, beliefs about the value of science, and perceived media bias relate to these determinants. Methods: Longitudinal online survey using two national samples (18–49 years old/50 years and older), each stratified by racial/ethnic group (n = 3,190). Data were collected in October/November 2020 and were weighted by race group to be representative. Results: Path analyses showed that more positive attitudes about getting vaccinated predict intention across age and racial/ethnic groups, but normative pressure is relevant among older adults only. Belief in the value of science was positively associated with most determinants across all groups, however the association of COVID-19 misperceptions and perceived media bias with the determinants varied by age group. Conclusions: Messages that emphasize attitudes toward vaccination can be targeted to all age and racial/ethnic groups, and positive attitudes are universally related to a belief in the value of science. The varying role of normative pressure poses messages design challenges to increase vaccination acceptance.
Fighting back: Is defamation law a double-edged sword for #MeToo victims?
(First Amendment Studies, 2021-11-04) Dee, Juliet
During the past half-century, countless women have been victims of sexual harassment, groping, and rape. When the #MeToo Movement gained momentum in October 2017, women who had victimized began to speak out. If women who were victims of sexual predators had not originally reported being raped but came forward as part of the #MeToo movement two or three decades later and the perpetrators denied it (in essence, accusing the victims of lying), their only legal recourse has been to sue the sexual predators for defamation. The law of defamation is a double-edged sword, however, because if victims use social media platforms to “name and shame” the men who raped them, the perpetrators have also sued their alleged victims for libel. This discussion examines the effectiveness of turning to defamation law as a means of redressing grievances in #MeToo cases, and also applies critical legal theory to these cases. In other words, if there is pervasive structural inequity in the legal system, meaning that perpetrators are often wealthy and powerful men who can easily afford attorneys’ fees, can victims still prevail in court, or can wealthy and powerful perpetrators buy their victims’ silence with non-disclosure agreements?
Charlottesville, January 6 and Incitement: Can Civil Conspiracy Laws Permit an End-Run around Brandenburg v. Ohio?
(Communication Law Review, 2022) Dee, Juliet
In this article we analyze how courts have applied the federal Anti-Riot Act, the Brandenburg test for incitement, and civil conspiracy laws to two events: 1) the 2017 Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and 2) the January 6, 2021 insurrection and the storming of the U.S. Capitol. The thesis of this article is that civil conspiracy laws will be more effective for plaintiffs seeking redress of grievances against Donald Trump for the January 6, 2021 insurrection than will invoking the federal Anti-Riot Act because the Brandenburg test’s requirement of proving a speaker’s intent to incite violence is too steep a hill to climb. When plaintiffs file civil conspiracy suits, there is no guarantee that they will prevail. Whether they win or lose, however, they may be trying to turn a civil trial into a public forum in order to focus society’s attention on grievous wrongs that they have suffered.
Television News Media Consumption and Misperceptions about COVID-19 among US Populations at High Risk for Severe Health Outcomes Early in the Pandemic
(Health Communication, 2022-01-20) Maloney, Erin K.; Bleakley, Amy; Young, Dannagal G.; Silk, Kami J.; Crowley, John P.; Lambe, Jennifer L.
Research indicates that misperceptions that become part of people’s initial mental models about an issue tend to persist and influence their attitudes even after the misperception has been corrected. Recent work on evolving mental models suggests that communication efforts about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath may be improved by crafting messages that acknowledge biases and misunderstandings about the virus and other infectious diseases that may remain among members of the target audience. This study was designed to provide insight into such biases by: (1) establishing salient categories of COVID-related misperceptions in the earliest months of the pandemic in the United States among (a) the general population, and (b) demographic sub-populations at high risk of severe health outcomes; (2) identifying demographic predictors of misperceptions; and (3) examining the relationship between consumption of different television news outlets and agreement with misperceptions about COVID-19. A national sample of 1,000 adults in the United States (48.1% male; M age = 47.32, SD = 18.01; 72.9% White/Caucasian, 14.3% Black/African American, 15.9% Hispanic/Latinx) completed a survey between March 19 and March 25, 2020. Results identify prevalent classes of salient early COVID-19 misperceptions. Adjusting for numerous covariates, data indicated individuals over the age of 60 held the fewest COVID-related misperceptions among various demographic sub-populations, misperceptions were most prevalent among Black respondents, and increased consumption of television network news was associated with lower levels of misperception. Consumption of some 24-hour news networks (FOX and MSNBC) were significant positive correlates of misperceptions.
Helping and Hurting on the TV Screen: Bounded Generalized Reciprocity and Interracial Group Expectations
(Media Psychology, 2022-02-01) Holt, Lanier F.; Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Ewoldsen, David R.; Velez, John
Two survey studies, one with a college sample (Study 1, n = 245) and one with a national U.S. adult sample (Study 2, n = 590) examined how media messages can influence attitudes toward Black people in the U.S. A novel contribution is the role of Bounded Generalized Reciprocity, or the belief that members of an outgroup are likely to return a favor (positive), or enact retribution for a wrong (negative) as a factor in the relationship between television use and attitudes. Study 1 (college student sample) found support for a relationship between lifetime television exposure and negative attitudes, mediated by negative reciprocity beliefs. Study 2 (U.S. adult sample) found support for an ambivalence effect, where lifetime television exposure was associated with increases in both positive and negative reciprocity beliefs. This indicates that reciprocity beliefs can be cultivated similarly to other kinds of beliefs (e.g., crime frequency, mean world), and that these beliefs have downstream relationships with racial attitudes. The direction in which they are influenced by television use remains an open question, and likely depends on TV content patterns over time.
The complicated impact of media use before bed on sleep: Results from a combination of objective EEG sleep measurement and media diaries
(Journal of Sleep Research, 2022-02-08) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Ulusoy, Ezgi; Eden, Allison; Hahn, Lindsay; Yang, Chia-Lun; Tucker, Robin M.
Media use has been linked to sleep disturbance, but the results are inconsistent. This study explores moderating conditions. A media diary study with 58 free-living adults measured the time spent with media before bed, the location of use, and multitasking. Electroencephalography (EEG) captured bedtime, total sleep time, and the percent of time spent in deep (Stage N3), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Media use in the hour before sleep onset was associated with an earlier bedtime. If the before bed use did not involve multitasking and was conducted in bed, that use was also associated with more total sleep time. Media use duration was positively associated with (later) bedtime and negatively associated with total sleep time. Sleep quality, operationalised as the percent of total sleep time spent in N3 and REM sleep, was unaffected by media use before bed. Bedtime media use might not be as detrimental for sleep as some previous research has shown. Important contextual variables moderate the relationship, such as location, multitasking, and session length.
Problematic Video Gaming Is Associated With Poor Sleep Quality, Diet Quality, and Personal Hygiene
(Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2022-03-14) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Meshi, Dar; Tham, Samuel M.
Problematic gamers may focus on game-play so much that they forego regular daily activities in favor of more game time, leading to health impairments. Because problematic gamers often desire to return to the game as quickly as possible, they are known to make myopic choices that favor short-term benefits at the cost of long-term gains. The present research examines certain health behaviors that are likely to suffer from such myopic decision-making: sleep quality, diet quality, and personal hygiene. Although other research has assessed the relationships between gaming behavior and each of these health behaviors separately, they are likely to be intercorrelated—representing a pattern of unhealthy decision-making. To achieve our research goal of understanding how problematic gaming might be associated with these health behaviors, we surveyed a university-based sample (n = 354), including targeted sampling of high-intensity gamers. We assessed problematic gaming’s relationship with poorer sleep quality, diet quality, and personal hygiene behaviors. Our results reveal a significant association between problematic gaming and all 3 negative health behaviors. Negative health behaviors associated with problematic gaming may be a potential sign that there is a behavioral addiction issue. Interventions should consider a pattern of such behaviors along with gaming behavior to encourage healthier behavioral choices and game-play.
Student intentions to engage instructors in mental health-related conversations: An application of the theory of planned behavior
(Journal of American College Health, 2022-04-06) White, Allie; Ball, Hannah; LaBelle, Sara
Objective: Considering that college students experience mental health issues and college counseling centers are overwhelmed, this study identifies instructors as a potential mental health resource for students. This study utilizes the theory of planned behavior to investigate the relationship between students’ attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms, perceived behavioral control, and their intentions to engage their instructors in mental health conversations. Participants: Participants were 311 undergraduate students at a small, private university in Southern California. Methods: Participants were recruited through a Communication subject pool and completed an online survey about engaging instructors in these conversations. Results: Results of a regression analysis indicate that all theoretical constructs positively predict students’ intentions to discuss mental health with an instructor. Conclusions: By providing insight into students’ intentions to utilize instructors as mental health resources on campus, these findings yield practical implications for better preparing universities and their faculty to engage in students’ mental health.
I’m Lovin’ It: How Fast Food Advertising Influences Meat-Eating Preferences
(Journal of Health Communication, 2022-05-02) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Zeldes, Geraldine; Hall, Elizabeth Dorrance; Chavez, Manuel; Takahashi, Bruno; Bleakley, Amy; Plasencia, Julie
Overconsumption of red and processed meat is associated with a multitude of negative health outcomes. Previous research shows exposure to advertising messaging can influence dietary behaviors but research on the influence of meat advertising on diet, specifically, is scant. Theoretically informed by the Reasoned Action Approach, the present experiment randomly assigned participants to view a version of a print McDonald’s advertisement that included meat imagery (a Big Mac), non-meat imagery (French fries), or no food (just the McDonalds’ logo and slogan), which acted as a control. An online survey in the United States included 514 U.S. adults (Mage = 51 years). Participants exposed to meat imagery compared to the non-meat imagery reported a higher desire to eat meat. The meat imagery and control conditions were also significantly associated with increased cognitive accessibility of meat concepts, compared to when respondents were shown the no-meat condition. Desire to eat meat, but not the cognitive accessibility of meat concepts, was significantly associated with attitude, normative pressure, and perceived behavioral control for avoiding eating meat one day per week; these constructs predicted intention and willingness to avoid meat. Results indicate that exposure to meat imagery in advertising does have the potential to influence meat consumption behavior and also has implications for the use of meat imagery in persuasive messaging for public health campaigns.
Would they save me, too? Victim race recall when the hero is Black vs. White and its influence on expectations of reciprocity
(Media Psychology, 2022-05-22) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Holt, Lanier F.; Ewoldsen, David R.
Bounded Generalized Reciprocity (BGR) hypothesizes that expectations of reciprocity provide the foundation for ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation. These expectations can be influenced by interaction with outgroup members, including vicarious interaction through media. This analysis examines how non-Black participants view helping behavior by Black individuals, and how their interpretations of helping scenarios influence intergroup attitudes. Participants (n= 211) were randomly assigned to view a news clip in which a Black or White hero saves someone White, or whose race was not portrayed. When viewing a clip with an ambiguous victim, participants were significantly more likely to report that the victim was not White when the hero was Black – indicating an expectation of helping behavior between Whites and Blacks. However, when a Black hero saved an unambiguously White victim, participants were more accurate in their recall. Victim race recall and hero race interacted to predict future reciprocity expectations, such that Black heroes saving a victim recalled as White (regardless of accuracy) resulted in increased positive reciprocity expectations. Positive reciprocity then predicted motivation to avoid prejudice and prejudiced attitudes. These results have implications for how media depictions of helping behaviors may impact intergroup beliefs and attitudes.
A Reflection on the Relationship Between Place and Health: Understanding Undergraduate Student Experiences and Priorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
(Delaware Journal of Public Health, 2022-08) Rao, Abhigna; Hoffman, Lindsay; Bleakley, Amy; Karpyn, Allison
Environment and setting have a large influence on matters of population health, and college is a critical place for students, shaping both health and education. College students across the nation were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes at universities left many anxious, isolated, and coping with social, emotional, and educational impacts. Objective: To perform a data analysis of the qualitative responses garnered through the Student Return to Campus Survey administered at the University of Delaware (UD) in Spring 2020, and to identify common themes of student experiences and priorities during the pandemic years to inform future recommendations for health crisis management. Methods: The study utilized secondary data analysis from an online student experience survey of 2,941 Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior students from the 2020-2021 academic year. Results: Qualitative analysis revealed a set of common outstanding themes influencing the college pandemic experience, including: Quality and Accessibility of Education in a Virtual Learning Environment; Quality of Student Life; Mental Health During the Pandemic; Thoughts and Attitudes About Vaccination Policies, Masking, Testing, and COVID Guidelines; Priorities and Considerations About the Return to Campus; and Overall Feelings About the Pandemic at UD. Conclusions: Student experiences were influenced by academic, social, emotional, and financial factors, which were often described with great intensity, and were at times contradictory. Students emphasized struggles with transitioning to and with virtual learning, the quality of campus resources, financial responsibilities, family health, and personal health. The results also shed light on the importance of communication with the campus community and the desire for students to express opinions during a crisis. Health Policy Implications: The results of this study have implications for crisis management for college campuses and planning for future responses to unanticipated events and ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Nonverbal immediacy cues and impression formation in video therapy
(Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 2022-08-01) Pfender, Emily; Caplan, Scott
The increased use of video-mediated communication (VMC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread acceptance of mediated healthcare appointments. Mental health care is one area in which researchers might examine the effects of VMC. Therefore, the current study employed an experiment to test the relative influence of video therapists’ eye contact and gesture on a patient. Each participant was assigned to one of the four possible video conditions using a 2 (Gestures present versus absent) x 2 (Eye contact present versus absent) factorial design. Study participants (n= 359) rated actors portraying themselves as video therapists on items related to impression formation (i.e. likable, warm, understanding). Findings suggest that participants in the eye contact condition reported more positive impressions than in the no eye contact condition. Similarly, participants in the gesture condition reported more positive impressions than in the no gesture condition. However, gestures had a larger effect on impression formation than eye contact, and there was no interaction effect considering the combined impact of gestures and eye contact. These results contribute to understanding how nonverbal cues impact health outcomes in VMC.
Athletes Drink Gatorade: DMA Advertising Expenditures, Ad Recall, and Athletic Identity Influence Energy and Sports Drink Consumption
(Health Communication, 2022-10-10) Ellithorpe, Morgan E.; Bleakley, Amy; Hennessy, Michael; Jordan, Amy; Stevens, Robin; Maloney, Erin
Understanding why sports and energy drinks remain increasingly popular among adolescents despite declines in other sugar sweetened beverages is critical. This study points to memory for advertising exposure and adolescent athletic identity as two aspects that together help to explain consumption. An online survey of U.S. adolescents aged 14–18 (n = 503) was combined with Nielsen data for television and social media advertising expenditures by sports and energy drink brands in participants’ designated market areas (DMAs). Advertisement recall mediates the relationship between social media DMA expenditures and sports and energy drink consumption. Recall for television advertisements is related to consumption but is unrelated to television DMA expenditures. Athletic identity moderated the relationship between recall and consumption such that consumption increased as both recall and athletic identity increased, suggesting a role for motivated memory and motivated processing of ad messages based on athletic identity consistent with the limited capacity model of motivated media message processing. Based on these results, we conclude that effectiveness of expenditures in influencing behavior is dependent upon both ad recall and ad relevance, and that athletic identity is an important factor in ad effectiveness in the context of sports and energy drinks advertising.
Media Use, Interpersonal Communication, and Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence
(Science Communication, 2022-10-17) Brewer, Paul R.; Bingaman, James; Paintsil, Ashley; Wilson, David C.; Dawson, Wyatt
This study examines how members of the public frame artificial intelligence (AI) along with how news use predicts “frames in mind” for AI. The study also tests whether news use, science fiction viewing, and discussing technology influence attitudes toward AI independently and in conjunction with one another. The analyses use data from a nationally representative online panel survey. Respondents invoked social progress and Pandora’s box frames for AI, and technology news use predicted mentioning each frame. Use of technology news also predicted change in support for AI, while science fiction viewing and discussing technology were conditionally related to such change.
Factors associated with COVID-19 masking behavior: an application of the Health Belief Model
(Health Education Research, 2022-10-18) White, Allie; Maloney, Erin; Boehm, Michele; Bleakley, Amy; Langbaum, Jessica
Wearing a face mask is effective in minimizing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among unvaccinated individuals and preventing severe illness among the vaccinated. Country, state and local guidelines promote, and at times mandate, mask-wearing despite it being publicly perceived as an individual’s choice. Guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM), structural equation modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data in a sample of US adults aged 18–49 years to identify constructs that contribute to face mask-wearing. Results indicated that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived masking benefits and self-efficacy were positively associated with masking behavior, and masking barriers were negatively associated with masking behavior. Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and cues to action were nonsignificant correlates of masking behavior. These results’ theoretical and practical implications contribute to the literature on the HBM and the COVID-19 pandemic. Future directions and limitations are discussed.
Media Use and Political Trust in Kenya: Media Malaise or Virtuous Circle?
(International Journal of Communication, 2023) Kipkoech, Gilbert
Although there is a large corpus of research on the relationship between media use and political trust, this scholarship mainly comes from the experiences of audiences in the West and Confucian Asia. The current study departs from these contexts by investigating the association between news media exposure and political trust in a growing African democracy—Kenya. Hierarchical regressions analyses were conducted using data from a national representative sample (N = 2,400). The findings show that news media use and particularly television news use is negatively related to political trust while newspaper reading, listening to the radio, and digital news use do not predict confidence in political actors. Moreover, political performance and perceived corruption significantly moderate this relationship while subjective economic evaluations do not moderate the hypothesized relationship.
The Consumption of Animal and Plant Foods in Areas of High Prevalence of Stroke and Colorectal Cancer
(Nutrients, 2023-02-16) Mayfield, Kellie E.; Plasencia, Julie; Ellithorpe, Morgan; Anderson, Raeda K.; Wright, Nicole C.
Diets of red and processed meat have been reported as important risk factors for developing colorectal cancer. Given the racial and ethnic differences in the incidence of colorectal cancer, patterns of food consumption, and areas of residence, particularly in the South, more data is needed on the relationship between residing in a high stroke area, colorectal cancer incidence levels, and red meat and processed meat consumption. We created online surveys to ascertain meat, red meat, and healthy food consumption levels. We used OLS regression to evaluate the association between residence in Stroke Belt states and colorectal cancer incidence quartiles with food consumption. We further used path analysis using structural equation modeling to evaluate if age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, and comorbidity index mediated the association between residence in the eight-state Stroke Belt, colorectal cancer incidence groups, and meat consumption. Our sample included 923 participants, with 167 (18.1%) residing in the Stroke Belt and 13.9% being in the highest colorectal cancer incidence group. The findings show that residing in a Stroke Belt state is predictive of the consumption of overall meat 0.93 more days per week or red meat 0.55 more days per week compared to those not residing in a Stroke Belt state. These data can be used to develop future diet interventions in these high-risk areas to reduce rates of colorectal cancer and other negative health outcomes.

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