The Effects of Warning Smokers on Perceived Risk, Worry, and Motivation to Quit
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Effects of Warning Smokers on Perceived Risk, Worry, and Motivation to Quit Renee E. Magnan, Ph.D. & Amber R. Köblitz, M.S. & Desiree J. Zielke, M.S. & Kevin D. McCaul, Ph.D.
Published online: 3 March 2009 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2009
Abstract Background Research concerning motives for smoking cessation has focused on beliefs (cognitions) that people have, especially risk perceptions, with less attention directed to worry (negative affect) concerning one’s smoking. Purpose We tested a manipulation to encourage smokers to think and worry more about their smoking behavior. We contrasted risk perceptions and worry as predictors of contemplation to quit smoking. Methods Smokers were randomly assigned to two conditions in which they carried personal digital assistants for 2 weeks. When signaled, smokers read smoking consequence statements or daily hassle statements. Results After 2 weeks, experimental smokers reported greater perceived risk and worry about developing a medical condition compared to control smokers. Both perceived risk and worry independently mediated the relationship between the experimental manipulation and increased contemplation to quit smoking; however, worry was the strongest mediator in a multiple mediation model. Conclusion Worry may be foremost for motivating smokers to attempt quitting. Keywords Smoking . Smokers . Motivation to quit . Worry about smoking . Perceived risk
R. E. Magnan : A. R. Köblitz : D. J. Zielke : K. D. McCaul North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA R. E. Magnan (*) Department of Psychology, 1 University of New Mexico, MSC03 2220, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1161, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction The majority of the 45 million smokers in the United States do not try to quit during any year, even for a day [1]. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how better to motivate smokers to make a quit attempt. In a review of 35 articles investigating motivation to quit, McCaul et al. [2] found that health concerns were overwhelmingly the most common predictors of cessation motivation. Most of these publications involved retrospective and cross-sectional designs in which ex-smokers recall their reasons for quitting or current smokers describe reasons why they would like to quit and these reasons are correlated with their overall motivation to quit. As an illustration of a retrospective design, Orleans et al. [3] asked over 4,000 younger and older smokers who had tried to quit previously to rate the importance of six different quitting motives. Smokers of all ages ranked the top three quitting motives in the same order: effects on one’s future health, effects on one’s present health, and effects on others. Kviz et al. [4] conducted a study utilizing the cross-sectional approach, interviewing three different age groups of current smokers about their plans to quit. Health concerns strongly predicted plans to quit in the next 3 months for smokers of all ages. In a few studies, researchers have asked smokers about reasons for quitting and then
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