US CHILDREN’S ACQUISITION OF TOBACCO MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS: A FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS Yi-Chun (Yvonnes) Chen, Christine E. Kaestle, Paul Estabrooks and Jamie Zoellner Pro-tobacco messages in media play an important role in initiating smoking behavior among children, but can be addressed in health promotion media literacy interventions. Children from Southwest Virginia, US (age range: 8–14, N ¼ 19) who participated in a tobacco media literacy intervention were invited to discuss their learning and understanding of tobacco media literacy in three focus groups. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and sensitizing concepts based on a comprehensive theoretical framework. Responses to the intervention were largely categorized into awareness of absent health messages, perceived media influences, and critical evaluation. Unanticipated themes also emerged, such as enthusiasm for media production, desirability of commercials despite the intervention, and an excitement to share with family. These findings not only have implications for the development of health promotion media literacy, but also add additional dimensions to advance theoretical development. KEYWORDS children; focus group; health media literacy; prevention; smoking; thematic analysis; tobacco Most tobacco users start before they are 18 years old and many will die prematurely in adulthood as a result of smoking (CDC, 2005; USDHHS, 2000). Prevalent pro-tobacco messages in media play an important role in youth smoking (Lovato, Linn, Stead, & Best, 2003; Pierce, Choi, Gilpin, Farkas, & Berry, 1998). For example, among American adolescents, pro-tobacco imagery is seen by over 80 per cent in television and movies, by 85 per cent in stores (Duke et al., 2009), by over half in magazines (Duke et al., 2009), and by over a third online (Borzekowski & Rickert, 2001; Jenssen, Klein, Salazar, Daluga, & DiClemente, 2009). To combat this, research supports interventions that focus on social norms, integrate deconstruction of media, and cognitive elements (e.g., skepticism) (Austin, Pinkleton, Hust, & Cohen, 2005; Banerjee & Greene, 2006, 2007; Dobbins, DeCorby, Manske, & Goldblatt, 2008; Hwang, Yeagley, & Petosa, 2004; Pinkleton, Austin, Cohen, Miller, & Fitzgerald, 2007). Such media literacy interventions use lesson components that cover a wide range of activities to enhance the abilities to critically analyze media messages. The majority of antismoking media literacy research has primarily focused on quantifying responses to measure participants’ attitudes and behavior, post-implemen- tation (Austin et al., 2005; Banerjee & Greene, 2006, 2007; Bier et al., 2011; Kupersmidt, Scull, & Austin, 2010; Pinkleton et al., 2007; Primack, Fine, Yang, Wickett, & Zickmund, 2009a). Very few studies have specifically explored children’s perceptions of media literacy Journal of Children and Media, iFirst article, 2012 ISSN 1748-2798 print/1748-2801 online/12/000001-19 q 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2012.755633 Downloaded by [Virginia Tech Libraries] at 06:25 06 February 2013