TY - JOUR
T1 - Eye-tracking to examine differences in alcohol product appeal by sex among young people
AU - Rossheim, Matthew E.
AU - Peterson, Matthew S.
AU - Livingston, M. Doug
AU - Dunlap, Phenesse
AU - Trangenstein, Pamela J.
AU - Tran, Katherine
AU - Emechebe, Ogechi C.
AU - McDonald, Kayla K.
AU - Treffers, Ryan D.
AU - Jernigan, David H.
AU - Thombs, Dennis L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the Office of Student Scholarship Creative Activities, & Research (OSCAR), the Office of Undergraduate Education, and the Office of the Provost at George Mason University through a Multidisciplinary Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) Award (Rossheim, Peterson). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of George Mason University. We would like to thank the student research assistants who helped develop and conduct this experiment: Freddy Lopez, Erica Harp, Jessica McDonough, Santiago Jauregui, Natalia Gutierrez, Zimako Chuks, Noor Elgamal, Judy Nanaw, Kaylan Bullock, Samantha Seballos, and Shannon Smith Galloway.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Background: Advertising of traditional alcopops contains elements that appeal to youth, especially females. Supersized alcopops are marketed differently than traditional alcopops and contain up to 5.5 standard alcoholic drinks. Young females are more likely to underestimate the alcohol content of supersized alcopops, putting them at higher risk of overconsumption. Similar to supersized alcopops, beer is packaged in large cans and in the same areas of store shelves. Objective: This study examined among young people whether supersized alcopops versus beer products disproportionately appealed to females. Methods: Eleven adolescents (13–17 years old) and 72 college students (21–26 years old) were recruited during 2019–2020. Participants viewed 19 photos of convenience store display cases containing both supersized alcopop and beer products. While viewing each image, participants were instructed to click on the beverage that looked the “coolest” (i.e. most appealing). Eye-tracking hardware and software measured the amount of time participants visually fixated on each product. Participants completed a survey to record demographic characteristics. Results: Compared to males (n=25), females (n=58) fixated on supersized alcopops for 6.8 seconds longer (95%CI 0.3,13.3). Females also had 3.7 times the odds of selecting a supersized alcopop as the product they found most appealing compared to males (95%CI 1.68,8.01), adjusting for amount of time visually fixating on supersized alcopops, which was also a significant predictor. Conclusions: Young females’ strong preference for supersized alcopops is concerning given they disproportionately underestimate their potency, relative to males, and are more likely to obtain dangerously high BAC levels from consuming one or two supersized alcopops.
AB - Background: Advertising of traditional alcopops contains elements that appeal to youth, especially females. Supersized alcopops are marketed differently than traditional alcopops and contain up to 5.5 standard alcoholic drinks. Young females are more likely to underestimate the alcohol content of supersized alcopops, putting them at higher risk of overconsumption. Similar to supersized alcopops, beer is packaged in large cans and in the same areas of store shelves. Objective: This study examined among young people whether supersized alcopops versus beer products disproportionately appealed to females. Methods: Eleven adolescents (13–17 years old) and 72 college students (21–26 years old) were recruited during 2019–2020. Participants viewed 19 photos of convenience store display cases containing both supersized alcopop and beer products. While viewing each image, participants were instructed to click on the beverage that looked the “coolest” (i.e. most appealing). Eye-tracking hardware and software measured the amount of time participants visually fixated on each product. Participants completed a survey to record demographic characteristics. Results: Compared to males (n=25), females (n=58) fixated on supersized alcopops for 6.8 seconds longer (95%CI 0.3,13.3). Females also had 3.7 times the odds of selecting a supersized alcopop as the product they found most appealing compared to males (95%CI 1.68,8.01), adjusting for amount of time visually fixating on supersized alcopops, which was also a significant predictor. Conclusions: Young females’ strong preference for supersized alcopops is concerning given they disproportionately underestimate their potency, relative to males, and are more likely to obtain dangerously high BAC levels from consuming one or two supersized alcopops.
KW - Eye-tracking
KW - Four Loko
KW - binge drinking
KW - ready-to-drink flavored malt alcoholic beverages
KW - youth oriented alcohol products
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139557842&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00952990.2022.2129062
DO - 10.1080/00952990.2022.2129062
M3 - Article
C2 - 36206530
AN - SCOPUS:85139557842
SN - 0095-2990
VL - 48
SP - 734
EP - 744
JO - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
JF - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
IS - 6
ER -