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Description
Celebrities can have a powerful influence on people's health-related attitudes and behaviors, often by publicly disclosing their own personal health decisions. In May 2013, Angelina Jolie, an internationally recognized actress, director, and author, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times disclosing her decision to undergo a prophylactic double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer after learning that she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation. The current research aimed to evaluate a multi-step mediation model analyzing (1) the relationship between exposure to Angelina Jolie and female college students' breast cancer worry and perceived risk of breast cancer, (2) whether higher levels of involvement with Angelina Jolie strengthened this relationship, and (3) the relationship between exposure to Angelina Jolie and breast cancer screening intentions, and whether this relationship was mediated by (a) perceived risk of breast cancer or (b) breast cancer worry. Participants included 198 female undergraduate college students. The San Diego State University Psychology Department participant pool was utilized to acquire participants. Data were collected anonymously via an online questionnaire assessing demographics, family history of cancer, exposure to Angelina Jolie and her disclosure, parasocial involvement with Angelina Jolie, perceived risk of breast cancer, breast cancer worry, and breast cancer screening behaviors and intentions. Data were analyzed using correlations and regression analyses, considering both moderational and mediational relationships. Exposure to Angelina Jolie was not related to breast cancer worry (p = .066), intent to perform a breast self-exam (p = .132), or intent to receive a clinical breast exam (p = .053). After considering participants' family history, the relationship between exposure to Angelina Jolie and perceived risk of breast cancer was non-significant (p = .409). Findings suggest that celebrity health disclosures alone may not sufficiently motivate young women to change their health-related attitudes and behaviors. Knowledge of one's family history may have more of an influence on healthrelated attitudes and behaviors than exposure to celebrity health messages. Future research should explore how celebrity health disclosures affect the health-related attitudes and behaviors of people who do not know their family history.
