Suchergebnisse

With two waves of nationwide survey data collected before and after the 2004 World AIDS Day Campaign in Taiwan, this study aims to analyze factors contributing to public perceptions, beliefs, and behavioral decisions of condom use in relation to HIV/AIDS prevention in Taiwan. Gender differences in perceived functions and barriers of condom use are explored. Changes made due possibly to the overall campaign efforts are also examined. Implications of the findings for future research and campaign practices as well as limitations of the study are discussed to conclude the study. (Asian J Commun/NIAS)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the various conditions under which political expertise (or prior knowledge in the general political domain) and affect (positive or negative feelings) might interact with each other in shaping the cognitive strategies that people employ in forming reactions to newspaper stories. Two hundred six subjects from a major midwestern university were randomly assigned to a positive affect or a negative affect condition to read an article about either a proposed change in the state of Michigan's student loan program or the proposed deputization of campus police. A thought-listing procedure was employed to analyze subjects' reactions to the articles. In line with expectations, political expertise emerged as an important contributor to analytic processing of the news articles (measured by the generation of total thoughts, issue-relevant thoughts, and arguments). Predicted main effects of affective valence were not observed, but an interaction between expertise and affect was found. Political experts, but not novices, generated more issue-relevant thoughts in the negative affect condition. Implications of these results for political communication research (e.g., campaign effects) are discussed.

Public opinion toward AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) policies & persons with AIDS (PWAs) are assessed, based on nationally representative telephone surveys conducted in 1985 & 1987 (N = 2,308 & 2,095 respondents, respectively) conducted by the Los Angeles Times. Focus is on the cognitive & attitudinal factors underlying antigay sentiment & AIDS knowledge, hypothesizing a causal relationship linking misinformation about transmission through casual contact & homophobia with advocacy of restrictive policies aimed at seropositives. AIDS misinformation is attributed to lack of exposure to AIDS information presented in the mass media, inability to understand the information, or resistance to such information because of religious/moral beliefs, sexual attitudes, or its perceived threatening or dreadful nature. Among other background factors, greater levels of education, resulting in greater acceptance of groups afflicted (eg, gays), & alignment with politically liberal agendas that promote tolerance of individual freedoms & civil rights, mitigate such restrictive policies. Overall goodness-of-fit estimates suggest that the model fits the data reasonably well. Structural path estimates were the most successful in predicting the variance in support for PWA restrictions. Alternative testing models are suggested. 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 1 Appendix, 22 References. Adapted from the source document.