Power Distance and Collectivist/Individualist Strategies in Alcohol Warnings: Effects by Gender and Ethnicity

Abstract

This research examined the responses of 73 Mexican American and Anglo young adults to four televised drinking-and-driving warnings. Warnings were manipulated into collectivist (emphasizing risks to family and friends) and individualist (emphasizing risks to self) appeals, and into high and low power distance appeals by attributing or not attributing warnings to the Surgeon General. Females rated the collectivist warnings, and males the individualist warnings, more believable. Respondents on average responded to the collectivist warnings most positively, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Anglos rated warnings without the Surgeon General as the source more believable than warnings with the Surgeon General as the source; the opposite was true for Latinos. Other interactions were also found.