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Description:
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Tanning bed use , especially among young , white females , has become a serious health problem in the United States . Those who use tanning beds value a tanned appearance ; thus , one possible way to get individuals to stop using tanning beds is to persuade them to begin using an alternative method : a sunless tanner . This study sought to use persuasive messages to encourage individuals to both stop using tanning beds and start using a sunless tanner . Deviance Regulation Theory (DRT ) was used to design three messages , and source expertise was manipulated (high and low ) . In addition , attitudes , perceived norms , benefits and threats about tanning were examined . Results indicate that the combination of DRT message design and source expertise produced several message conditions that were effective at decreasing tanning bed use intent . No combined message condition was effective at changing sunless tanner use intent . DRT message design alone did not produce results , nor did source expertise . Tanning attitudes were influenced by reference groups , and perceived norms about tanning predicted individual‘s tanning bed use for several reference groups . In addition , there was an interaction between benefits and threats of tanning . |