Some mass communications scholars have contended that uses and gratifications is not a rigorous social science theory. In this article, I argue just the opposite, and any attempt to speculate on the future direction of mass communication theory must seriously include the uses and gratifications approach. In this article, I assert that the emergence of computer-mediated communication has revived the significance of uses and gratifications. In fact, uses and gratifications has always provided a cutting-edge theoretical approach in the initial stages of each new mass communications medium: newspapers, radio and television, and now the Internet. Although scientists are likely to continue using traditional tools and typologies to answer questions about media use, we must also be prepared to expand our current theoretical models of uses and gratifications. Contemporary and future models must include concepts such as interactivity, demassification, hypertextuality, and asynchroneity. Researchers must also be willing to explore interpersonal and qualitative aspects of mediated communication in a more holistic methodology.

/pdf/uses-and-gratifications-theory-in-the-21st-century-123uck608n.pdf

Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century

Studying influences on media content beyond processes and effects analyzing media content patterns of media content influences on content from individual media workers influence of media routines organizational influences on content influences on content from outside of media organizations the influence of ideology linking influences on content to the effects of content building a theory of news content.

Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content

https://www.gezondezorg.org/files/Roken-mediacampagnes-review.pdf

Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour

Although there is a large and growing literature on tailored print health behavior change interventions, it is currently not known if or to what extent tailoring works. The current study provides a meta-analytic review of this literature, with a primary focus on the effects of tailoring. A comprehensive search strategy yielded 57 studies that met inclusion criteria. Those studies-which contained a cumulative N = 58,454-were subsequently meta-analyzed. The sample size-weighted mean effect size of the effects of tailoring on health behavior change was found to be r = .074. Variables that were found to significantly moderate the effect included (a) type of comparison condition, (b) health behavior, (c) type of participant population (both type of recruitment and country of sample), (d) type of print material, (e) number of intervention contacts, (f) length of follow-up, (g) number and type of theoretical concepts tailored on, and (h) whether demographics and/or behavior were tailored on. Implications of these results are discussed and future directions for research on tailored health messages and interventions are offered.

/pdf/does-tailoring-matter-meta-analytic-review-of-tailored-print-xsem787pqh.pdf

Does tailoring matter? Meta-analytic review of tailored print health behavior change interventions.

Increasing evidence suggests that public health and health-promotion interventions that are based on social and behavioral science theories are more effective than those lacking a theoretical base. This article provides an overview of the state of the science of theory use for designing and conducting health-promotion interventions. Influential contemporary perspectives stress the multiple determinants and multiple levels of determinants of health and health behavior. We describe key types of theory and selected often-used theories and their key concepts, including the health belief model, the transtheoretical model, social cognitive theory, and the ecological model. This summary is followed by a review of the evidence about patterns and effects of theory use in health behavior intervention research. Examples of applied theories in three large public health programs illustrate the feasibility, utility, and challenges of using theory-based interventions. This review concludes by identifying cross-cutting themes and important future directions for bridging the divides between theory, practice, and research.

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.012809.103604

The role of behavioral science theory in development and implementation of public health interventions.

Reliability and validity of a brief measure of sensation seeking

Brief measures of sensation seeking for screening and large-scale surveys

Part I Measurement Trends and Issues Measurement in Family Communication - Elizabeth E. Graham & Joseph P. Mazer Measurement in Organizational and Group Communication - David R. Seibold Measurement in Health Communication - Nichole Egbert & Rebecca B. Rubin Measurement in Instructional Communication - Rebecca B. Rubin Measurement in Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Communication - David R. Seibold, Rebecca B. Rubin, & Alan M. Rubin Measurement in Interpersonal Communication -- Elizabeth E. Graham & Scott Titsworth Measurement in Mass Communication - Elizabeth M. Perse Part II Measure Profiles Affectionate Communication Index Attachment Style Measure Aukland Individualism and Collectivism Scale Child-Parent Communication Apprehension Cognitive Elaboration Scale Communication Functions Questionnaire Communicative Response to Romantic Jealousy Scale Family Communication Standards Instrument Group Development Questionnaire Humor Orientation Scale Individuals' Criteria for Telling Family Secrets Intercultural Development Inventory Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale Interpersonal Dominance Instrument Learner Empowerment Listening Styles Profile Marital Opinion Questionnaire Measure of Source Credibility Medical Communication Competence Scale Normative Message Processing Scale Organizational Assimilation Index Organizational Dissent Scale Organizational Listening Survey Organizational Reputation Scale Organizational Temporality Scale Organizational-Public Relationship Scale Patient Self-Advocacy Scale Perceived Message Sensation Value Scale Perceived Power Measure Perceived Teacher Confirmation Scale Perceptions of Television Reality Personal Report of Marital Virtues Scale Presence Questionnaire Reactance Restoration Scale Relational Distance Index Relational Maintenance Strategy Measure Relational Uncertainty Measure Reticence Scale Revised Family Communication Pattern Instrument Revised learning Indicators Scale Risk Behavior Diagnosis Scale Sad Film Scale Self-Assessment Manikin Self-Construal Scales Sexual Harassment Proclivity Index Small Group Relational Satisfaction Scale Small Group Socialization Scale Social Presence Scale Socio-Communicative Style Student Motives to Communicate Scale Teacher Misbehaviors Scale Television Addiction Scale Television Mediation Scale Third Person Effect Topic Avoidance Willingness to Censor Survey Part III Measures Imported from Related Disciplines - Alan M. Rubin Aggression, Hostility, and Anger Anxiety Locus of Control Loneliness Need for Cognition Personality Traits Self-Esteem Sensation Seeking Shyness and Sociability Social Desirability Author Index Subject Index

Communication Research Measures: A Sourcebook

PART ONE: LOOKING BACK Uses and Gratifications Research - Philip Palmgreen, Lawrence A Wenner, and Karl Erik Rosengren The Past Ten Years PART TWO: PERSPECTIVES ON THEORETICAL ISSUES The Social Character of Media Gratifications - Jay G Blumler An Expectancy-Value Approach to Media Gratifications - Philip Palmgreen and J D Rayburn II Transaction and Media Gratifications Research - Lawrence A Wenner Toward a Merger of Gratifications and Agenda-Setting Research - Maxwell E McCombs and David H Weaver The Concept of Audience Activity - Mark R Levy and Sven Windahl Structural Factors in Gratifications Research - Lennart Weibull Gratifications Research and Media Theory - Denis McQuail Many Models or One? PART THREE: PERSPECTIVES ON KEY RESEARCH AREAS The Nature of News Gratifications - Lawrence A Wenner Media Gratifications Through the Life Cycle - Alan M Rubin The Naturalistic Study of Media Use and Youth Culture - James Lull The Experimental Exploration of Gratifications from Media Entertainment - Dolf Zillmann Gratifications Associated with New Communication Technologies - Frederick Williams, Amy Friedman Phillips, and Patricia Lum PART FOUR: LOOKING AHEAD Reaching Out - Jay G Blumler, Michael Gurevitch, and Elihu Katz a Future for Gratifications Research Growth of a Research Tradition - Karl Erik Rosengren Some Concluding Remarks

Media gratifications research : current perspectives

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of targeted televised public service announcement campaigns in reducing marijuana use among high-sensation-seeking adolescents. METHODS: The study used a controlled interrupted time-series design in 2 matched communities. Two televised antimarijuana campaigns were conducted in 1 county and 1 campaign in the comparison community. Personal interviews were conducted with 100 randomly selected teenagers monthly in each county for 32 months. RESULTS: All 3 campaigns reversed upward developmental trends in 30-day marijuana use among high-sensation seekers (P < .002). As expected, low-sensation seekers had low use levels, and no campaign effects were evident. CONCLUSIONS: Televised campaigns with high reach and frequency that use public service announcements designed for and targeted at high-sensation-seeking adolescents can significantly reduce substance use in this high-risk population.

Philip Palmgreen

Papers

Reliability and validity of a brief measure of sensation seeking

Brief measures of sensation seeking for screening and large-scale surveys

Communication Research Measures: A Sourcebook

Media gratifications research : current perspectives

Television campaigns and adolescent marijuana use: tests of sensation seeking targeting.