Research Findings

The declining visibility of tobacco products on prime-time U.S. broadcast television shows is linked to a drop in smoking of nearly two packs of cigarettes per adult per year, according to a study by Annenberg Public Policy Center researchers published online in the journal Tobacco Control. The study found that the drop in portrayals of smoking and tobacco use in TV dramas mirrored the decline in consumption

A pair of studies involving more than 450 parents in Philadelphia that examined the effects of household smoking bans found that homes that imposed smoking bans were effective at reducing the number of cigarettes smoked at home. One study, in the American Journal of Public Health, found that smoking levels in a home did not determine whether a home imposed a ban; the other, in Preventive Medicine, profiled smoking policies in homes with children under the age of 13.

The proportion of U.S. adults identifying themselves as Independent has grown significantly over the last four presidential elections, rivaling both major parties, according to a national study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center that is being published in Presidential Studies Quarterly.

A national study of teenagers suggests that school drug testing did not deter them from starting to smoke tobacco or marijuana or drink alcohol. But in high schools that had a “positive school climate,” teens were less likely to start smoke cigarettes or marijuana, according to the study, in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study compared the effectiveness over one year of school policies of student drug testing with a positive school climate.

A study in Addiction Biology of smokers’ brain activity has found that graphic anti-smoking warning labels that produce a strong emotional response are effective at deterring the urge to smoke, according to researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nearly 90 percent of the top-grossing movies over a 25-year period show main characters acting violently, and in 77 percent of the movies those characters also engage in sex-, alcohol- or tobacco-related behavior, a new study has shown. The study published in Pediatrics, by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that more than half of the biggest PG-13 movies featured a main character acting violently and involved in either drinking, sexual behavior or smoking within a five-minute segment.

Research examining the effects of adolescent exposure to sexual content on television conducted by APPC scholars Jeffrey A. Gottfried, Ph.D., Sarah Vaala, Ph.D., Amy Bleakley, Ph.D., Michael Hennessy, Ph.D., and Amy Jordan, Ph.D., has been published in the journal Communication Research (February 2013). Article abstract: Using the Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction, this study examines

A common misperception about the end of year holidays is that more people commit suicide during this period than at other times in the year. Since 2000, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has been tracking press reporting about this widespread belief. In the millennium year of 1999, APPC identified over 60 stories that ran during

Research points to the potential for prevention   Weakness in a cognitive skill called "working memory" predicts both the initiation and the escalation of alcohol use in adolescents ages 10 to 15, according to a longitudinal study by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of

To remind radio and TV stations in battleground markets of their right to reject deceptive outside group ads and to thank those that have been fact checking deceptive political content, FlackCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), will spend $40,000 airing a version of this radio ad (transcript below) across 10 battleground