Centers

Principal investigator: Jo Phelan

Abstract: New information about the human genome has the potential to significantly alter the way we view and react to individuals and groups. At the same time, our reactions to this new information will be shaped by the way it is presented to and understood by the public and by existing attitudes about the groups to whom the information applies. We propose to examine the impact of human genomic research on existing forms of stigma. Because of the importance of the mass media in communicating genomic research to the public, we formed a collaboration between experts in stigma and communications to examine not only the content of information disseminated to the public but also how the public understands and responds to that information.

We focus on three stigma-related characteristics (schizophrenia, obesity, and race), and one lower-stigma characteristic as a comparison group (heart disease). From previous research, we identify stigma-relevant themes that have been prominent in the media, e.g. high vs. low genetic determinism and benefit vs. harm of genetic research. Our aims are to: 1) examine the prevalence of these themes in recent newspaper and news magazine coverage; 2) compare the prevalence of these themes in coverage of schizophrenia, obesity, racial differences, and heart disease; 3) examine how the public comprehends, interprets, and reacts to stories reflecting themes such as determinism and harm; 4) assess variations in these reactions depending on the characteristic in question (e.g., obesity vs. heart disease); 5) assess variations in reactions depending on respondents’ characteristics.

We address these aims in two phases: Phase 1 is a content analysis of 300 news stories, published between 2003 and 2007, about the causes of one of our four characteristics. In Phase 2, we construct synthetic news stories in which we vary the characteristic described and themes such as determinism and harm. Then, using a nationally representative sample of 700 people, we conduct an online experiment in which respondents are randomly assigned to read one version of the story. Respondents will answer open- and closed-ended questions assessing comprehension, interpretation, attitudes, beliefs and behavioral orientations in response to the story. Open-ended responses will be coded quantitatively to assess deviations in recall from the content of the article as well as attitudinal reactions.

Opportunity for student involvement in the project: I need help with the content analysis of media coverage of race and genetics. This would involve reading pre-selected newspaper articles, coding the articles according to a quantitative coding form, meeting with other members of the research team to achieve good inter-rater reliability (agreement on how articles should be coded), and entering data into an SPSS database. This would require a full semester’s commitment (spring 09) of about 8 hours/week. I can offer independent study credit for students’ participation.