Public service announcement perceptions: A quantitative examination of anti-violence messages

Context: In recent years, anti-violence public service announcements (PSAs) have been broadcast on commercial and cable networks. Objective: This study examined if and how teenagers’ demographics and background variables were related to the perceptions of several anti-violence PSAs. Design: This was a pencil-and-paper survey that had teenagers provide information about their demographics and knowledge of, attitudes about, and experience with violence. Then, teenagers screened and responded to several PSAs, indicating their levels of interest in, comprehension of, credibility given, and perceived effect for each message. Setting and Participants: In public school settings, data were collected from a sample of 1480 urban, suburban, and rural midwestern teenagers. Main Outcome Measures: Interest in, comprehension of, credibility given, and perceived effect of PSAs. Results: Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, we found significant but weak relationships between teenagers’ characteristics and perceptions of anti-violence PSAs. Conclusion: This study suggests that audience segmentation be based not only on demographics but also on factors specifically related to the presented topic.