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

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    How intention to join an Alzheimer's participant recruitment registry differs by race, ethnicity, sex, and family history: Results from a national survey of US adults
    (Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2023-05-19) Langbaum, Jessica B.; Maloney, Erin; Hennessy, Michael; Harkins, Kristin; Karlawish, Jason; Nosheny, Rachel L.; Bleakley, Amy
    INTRODUCTION Alzheimer's-focused participant recruitment registries are tools for accelerating enrollment into studies, however, registry members are primarily White women. METHODS We conducted a national online survey of 1501 adults ages 50–80, oversampling for Black and Hispanic/Latino respondents, assessing intention to join a generic “brain health” registry and to join a registry that required specific tasks. RESULTS Intention to join a registry was low (M 3.48, SD 1.77), and lower than intention to join a registry requiring specific tasks. Intention was greatest for registries requiring completing surveys (M 4.70, SD 1.77). Differences in intention were primarily between White women and Black women; differences between other groups were limited to specific tasks required. DISCUSSION The results indicate uncertainty about what a registry is, its purpose, and/or the concept of “brain health.” Using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) to develop evidence-based outreach messages describing a registry and required tasks may increase diversity.
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    The Effects of Mobile Device Use and Presence on Perceptions of a Conversation Partner
    (Western Journal of Communication, 2023-05-09) Caplan, Scott E.; Courtright, John A.
    This study examined the effects of mobile device use, and its mere presence, on in-person conversations. The study utilized an experimental design to replicate and advance existing scholarship on the impact of co-present device use and mere device presence on a conversation. This study examined how the presence of an unused device may hinder conversation, and the results did not replicate the mere presence effect. The study found participants reacted negatively to a confederate’s phone use, regardless of whether it was self- or externally initiated.
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    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.
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    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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    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.
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