Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26900
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Vulnerable children, stigmatised smokers: The social construction of target audiences in media debates on policies regulating smoking in vehicles
Author(s): Bain, Josh
Weishaar, Heide
Semple, Sean
Duffy, Sheila
Hilton, Shona
Keywords: children
media analysis
second-hand smoke exposure
smoking in vehicles
stigmatisation
Issue Date: 1-Nov-2017
Date Deposited: 29-Mar-2018
Citation: Bain J, Weishaar H, Semple S, Duffy S & Hilton S (2017) Vulnerable children, stigmatised smokers: The social construction of target audiences in media debates on policies regulating smoking in vehicles. Health, 21 (6), pp. 633-649. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459316633279
Abstract: Following restrictions on smoking in vehicles carrying children in several countries, legislation to safeguard minors from second-hand smoke exposure in vehicles is under-consideration or has been implemented across the United Kingdom. This article presents the first investigation into social constructions of children, smokers and smoking parents in newsprint media and coverage of debates about protecting children from exposure to second-hand smoke in vehicles. Using Scotland as an example, articles on children’s exposure to second-hand smoke published between 1 January 2004 and 16 February 2014 in three Scottish newspapers were identified using Nexis UK. In all, 131 articles were thematically coded and analysed. Children were portrayed as vulnerable and requiring protection, with few articles highlighting children’s ability to voice concerns about the dangers of smoking. Smokers and smoking parents were mainly portrayed in a factual manner, but also frequently as irresponsible and, in some cases, intentionally imposing harm. Individual smokers were blamed for their recklessness, with only a small number of articles mentioning the need to assist smokers in quitting. Supporters of legislation focused on corresponding discourse, whereas critics directed debates towards established arguments against policy, including individual freedom, privacy and problems of enforcement. Focusing on children’s vulnerability to second-hand smoke might have increased support for legislation but risked a side effect of smokers being stigmatised. The media and supporters of public health policy are encouraged to consider appropriate approaches to raise awareness of the health harms of second-hand smoke to children while avoiding unintended stigmatisation of those in which they want to encourage behaviour change. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
DOI Link: 10.1177/1363459316633279
Rights: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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