Media Influence on Alcohol-Control Policy Support in the U.S. Adult Population: The Intervening Role of Issue Concern and Risk Judgments

Data from a national random-digit dial survey (N = 1,272) were analyzed to examine the influence of news media use on alcohol-control policy support, and to test whether risk judgments and concern about alcohol-related risks mediated effects of news media use variables on support for various types of alcohol-control public policies. In so doing, we test the proposition that perceptions influenced by routine coverage of events such as crime or accidents may in part explain news effects on public policy support in the domain of health policy. Analyses indicated that the (positive) influence of attention to news about crime and accidents on support for laws increasing server liability and limiting marketing of alcohol products was mediated by concern about risks of alcohol-related injuries and by perceptions of the alcohol-attributable fraction of homicides and unintended injury fatalities. Tests of model fit suggest that concern precedes the more cognitive risk judgment in the mediation model.