Development and Evaluation of the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Media Literacy (SSB-ML) Scale and Its Relationship With SSB Consumption

Abstract

ABSTRACTUnderstanding how adults’ media literacy skill sets impact their sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake provides insight into designing effective interventions to enhance their critical analysis of marketing messages and thus improve their healthy beverage choices. However, a media literacy scale focusing on SSBs is lacking. This cross-sectional study uses baseline data from a large randomized controlled trial to (a) describe the psychometric properties of an SSB Media Literacy Scale (SSB-ML) scale and its subdomains, (b) examine how the scale varies across demographic variables, and (c) explain the scale’s concurrent validity to predict SSB consumption. Results from 293 adults in rural southwestern Virginia (81.6% female, 94.0% White, 54.1% receiving SNAP and/or WIC benefits, average 410 SSB kcal daily) show that overall SSB-ML scale and its subdomains have strong internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alphas ranging from 0.65 to 0.83). The Representation & Reality domain significantly predicted SSB kilocalories, after controlling for demographic variables. This study has implications for the assessment and inclusion of context-specific media literacy skills in behavioral interventions.