Reducing Teen Births among Latinas: A Pilot RCT to Test the Effectiveness of Radio Messages

Last registered on May 14, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reducing Teen Births among Latinas: A Pilot RCT to Test the Effectiveness of Radio Messages
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001015
Initial registration date
January 27, 2016

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 27, 2016, 8:10 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
May 14, 2020, 6:32 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
California

Primary Investigator

Name
Winston Lin
Affiliation
University of Pennsylvania
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Adam Zelizer
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
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PI Name
Peter Aronow
PI Affiliation
Yale University
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PI Name
Donald Green
PI Affiliation
Columbia University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2015-08-04
End date
2020-05-11
Keywords
Health
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Our study uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of a mass media campaign (radio) designed to reduce pregnancy rates among Hispanic teens. The coverage areas of 28 FM radio stations (mostly Spanish-language) in California are included in the study. We randomly assigned 14 of the 28 radio stations to the treatment group and asked each treatment group radio station to air a 30-second ad 15 times per week for five weeks. In the ad, a young woman stressed the opportunity costs to teen mothers of having a baby (e.g., missed opportunities for fun, socializing with friends, or attending school). The study will estimate the effects of the intervention on births to female Hispanic teenagers in the year after the ad was aired, using birth records from the California Department of Public Health.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aronow, Peter et al. 2020. "Reducing Teen Births among Latinas: A Pilot RCT to Test the Effectiveness of Radio Messages." AEA RCT Registry. May 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1015-2.0
Former Citation
Aronow, Peter et al. 2020. "Reducing Teen Births among Latinas: A Pilot RCT to Test the Effectiveness of Radio Messages." AEA RCT Registry. May 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1015/history/68385
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2015-08-04
Intervention End Date
2015-11-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
For each of the 28 radio station coverage areas, our primary outcome is the number of births from Jan. 19, 2016 (5.5 months after the first airing of the ad) to Sept. 14, 2016 (10 months after the last airing) to Hispanic females age 20 or younger, divided by the number of births from Jan. 18, 2015 to Sept. 14, 2015 to Hispanic females age 20 or younger.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The coverage areas of 28 FM radio stations (mostly Spanish-language) in California are included in the study. We randomly assigned 14 of the 28 radio stations to the treatment group and asked each treatment group radio station to air a 30-second ad 15 times per week for five weeks. In the ad, a young woman stressed the opportunity costs to teen mothers of having a baby (e.g., missed opportunities for fun, socializing with friends, or attending school). The study will estimate the effects of the intervention on births to female Hispanic teenagers in the year after the ad was aired, using birth records from the California Department of Public Health.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the radio station. (Since the data for estimation of treatment effects will consist of one observation for each radio station's coverage area, we have not classified the treatment as clustered in our answer to the next question.)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
28 radio station coverage areas
Sample size: planned number of observations
28 radio station coverage areas
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
14 radio station coverage areas assigned to treatment, 14 radio station coverage areas assigned to control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Columbia University Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2015-05-20
IRB Approval Number
IRB-AAAN3650
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: c6321f750c65dec64c2f98f947b0fddd

SHA1: 43186dc0514d384b660183fa171f6e360d3b632a

Uploaded At: January 27, 2016

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
November 14, 2015, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 16, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
28 radio stations
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
28 radio station coverage areas
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
14 radio station coverage areas in treatment, 14 radio station coverage areas in control
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1015
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
This study uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of a mass media campaign designed to reduce pregnancy among Latina teenagers. We aired public service announcements (PSAs) on terrestrial radio stations in California. The sample includes 28 radio stations and over 11,000 births to Latina teenagers in 2016. The PSA, narrated by a young Latina, stressed the opportunity costs to teenage mothers of having a baby, e.g., missed opportunities for fun, socializing with friends, or attending school. Although this message expresses themes articulated by Latina teens and young mothers whom we interviewed, geocoded birth records suggest the PSAs had little effect. With data on all births in the state obtained from the California Department of Public Health, we can reject the hypothesis that the PSAs reduced births to Latina teenagers by 9% or more based on the 90% confidence interval of the estimated average treatment effect. In addition to shedding light on this particular radio campaign, this study provides a template for the design and analysis of mass media campaigns to improve other public health outcomes.
Citation
Green, D.P., Zelizer, A. & Lin, W. How Effective Are Radio Messages Aimed at Reducing Teen Births Among Latinas? A Randomized Controlled Trial. Popul Res Policy Rev (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09583-x
URL
https://rdcu.be/b36NC

Reports & Other Materials