Health and Risk Communication

After a four-year run in which most news stories falsely linked the holiday season with an increase in suicide, last year's coverage saw a turnaround, with most news stories debunking the holiday-suicide myth, according to an analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Getting children to cut back on sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and energy drinks has been the goal of anti-obesity public service advertisements. A new study evaluates the effectiveness of persuasive techniques -- humor, fear and nurturance -- used in those PSAs.

Adolescents who have difficulty with impulse control may be more prone to risky sexual behavior, with consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies. A study finds that individual differences in working memory can predict early sexual activity during adolescence.

A new study of public service advertisements (PSAs) to address obesity finds that appealing to fear – and the health consequences of too much sugar, such as diabetes and heart disease – had the greatest effect on teens’ intention to cut back on sugary beverages like soda and energy drinks.

Although many public service announcements (PSAs) about sugar-sweetened beverages emphasize that the drinks are high in sugar and calories, most parents already know that, so PSAs that take this approach to curtailing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages are likely to be ineffective, a study of Philadelphia parents has found.