For Fit’s Sake: A Norms-Based Approach to Healthy Behaviors Through Influence of Presumed Media Influence

ABSTRACT

Based on the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) model as the theoretical framework, this study examines how injunctive norms and personal norms mediate the influence of healthy lifestyle media messages on public intentions to engage in two types of healthy lifestyle behaviors—physical activity and healthy diet. Nationally representative data collected from 1,055 adults in Singapore demonstrate partial support for the key hypotheses that make up the extended IPMI model, highlighting the importance of a norms-based approach in health communication. Our results indicate that perceived media influence on others indirectly shaped public intentions to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors through personal norms and attitude, providing partial theoretical support for the extended IPMI model. Practical implications for health communicators in designing health campaigns media messages to motivate the public to engage in healthy lifestyle are discussed.

Notes

¹ The demographics of our sample generally reflect the Singapore population as reported in the 2010 national census. The median age in the census was 37.4 years and the median age in our sample was 44 years (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2011). There was a slight overrepresentation of female respondents in our sample (57.3%) as compared to the actual population (50.6%). These differences are not of major concern as we controlled for age and gender in our analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Start-Up Grant (grant number: M4080204) and the RCC Grant (grant number: M4080840) from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.