Seth M. Noar

About

Seth M. Noar is the James Howard and Hallie McLean Parker Distinguished Professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. He joined the school in 2011 and is also a member of UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He directs the Communicating for Health Impact (CHI) Lab, which conducts health communication research focused on the design, implementation, and evaluation of health messages and campaigns. His recent work emphasizes cancer prevention and control, particularly tobacco prevention and control messaging. Noar has published more than 250 articles and chapters across a wide range of outlets and has been involved as a principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or co-investigator on more than $50 million in grant-funded projects from the NIH and FDA, testing health communication strategies for health promotion and disease prevention. Recognized as one of the top 1% most cited researchers in the social sciences, he has received multiple awards including the Lewis Donohew and National Communication Association outstanding health communication scholar awards in 2016, the American Public Health Association’s Mayhew Derryberry Research award in 2017, and became a Fellow of the International Communication Association in 2023. Noar teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in health communication, social marketing, and meta-analysis. Prior to his tenure at UNC, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of…

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Environmental health
• Political Science
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Virology
• Communication

Selected publications

• (Mis)communicating about COVID-19: Insights from Health and Crisis Communication

  Health Communication · 2020 · 125 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the United States and the world. In this article, we discuss several communication challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, with insights from the fields of health and crisis communication. We focus in particular on the lack of clarity in the US response in terms of both what behaviors we are trying to change and how we are communicating about behavior change. While the mixed messages and contradictions have hampered the US res…

  DOI

• Evaluating the actual and perceived effectiveness of E-cigarette prevention advertisements among adolescents

  Addictive Behaviors · 2020 · 107 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: The efficacy of e-cigarette prevention ads among adolescents has seldom been studied. We examined the impact of ads from the The Real Cost vaping prevention media campaign on what adolescents think and believe about vaping. We also sought to test whether perceived message effectiveness (PME) served as a proxy for ad impact. METHODS: Participants were 543 U.S. adolescents ages 13-17. In an online experiment, we randomized participants to either: 1) persuasive e-cigarette prevention vi…

  DOI

• Applying a mixed-methods approach to evaluate and tailor electronic cigarette pictorial health warning labels for young adults in the United States

  BMC Public Health · 2026-05-16

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has risen significantly among US young adults, mainly driven by marketing, product design, and addictive nicotine. Pictorial warning labels (PWLs) effectively inform consumers about the risks associated with ENDS use, yet young users were rarely involved in their development. A set of 24 PWLs, categorized into three themes, was developed by a panel of international tobacco control experts via a Delphi study: ENDS toxicity, health…

  PublisherDOI

• Psychosocial correlates of condom use among Black adolescents in the United States: A meta-analysis.

  Health Psychology · 2026-03-09

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and meta-analyze correlates of condom use among Black adolescents and assess the moderating roles of gender and age. METHOD: databases. Studies were included if they sampled adolescents from the United States, included an adolescent report of condom use behavior and one of 36 correlates of interest, included a bivariate statistical association between a correlate and condom use, were in English, and at least 90% of participants self-identified as Black. Data e…

  PublisherDOI

• Psychosocial Correlates of Condom Use Among Black Adolescents in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-19

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and meta-analyze correlates of condom use among Black adolescents and assess the moderating roles of gender and age. METHOD: A systematic search was conducted of studies published between January 2000 and February 2024 using <em>Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO</em>, and <em>Communication Source</em> databases. Studies were included if they sampled adolescents from the United States, included an adolescent report of condom use behavior and one of 36 correlates of int…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R34MH077507

  NIH · $618k · 2012

• Advancing Perceived Message Effectiveness: A New Measure for Youth Prevention Media Campaigns

  NIH · $1.4M · 2019–2023

• Systematic Review of Perceived Message Effectiveness Measures for Anti-Tobacco Communication

  NIH · $223k · 2016–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Kurt M. Ribisl

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  142 shared

• Noel T. Brewer

  122 shared

• Marissa G. Hall

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  98 shared

• Benjamin M. Althouse

  University of Washington

  52 shared

• Jennifer Mendel

  43 shared

• John W. Ayers

  University of California, San Diego

  43 shared

• Erin L. Sutfin

  Wake Forest University

  40 shared

• Allison J. Lazard

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  38 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Communication

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1995

• M.A., Communication

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1992

• B.A., Communication

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1989

Awards & honors

• Lewis Donohew Award (2016)
• National Communication Association outstanding health commun…
• American Public Health Association’s Mayhew Derryberry Resea…
• Fellow of the International Communication Association (2023)

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