Self-affirmation and responses to cigarette warning labels: The moderating role of message strength

KAYNAK MALATYALI M., Van Koningsbruggen G. M., BÜYÜKŞAHİN SUNAL A.

JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY, vol.27, no.8, pp.1926-1941, 2022 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 27 Issue: 8
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/13591053211012758
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ASSIA, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PASCAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, MEDLINE, Psycinfo, Public Affairs Index
  • Page Numbers: pp.1926-1941
  • Keywords: cigarette warning labels, daily smokers, message strength, self-affirmation, smoking
  • Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The present research investigated whether message strength moderates the effect of self-affirmation on reactions given to cigarette warning labels. Three hundred eighty-four female (Study 1) and 383 male (Study 2) smokers completed a self-affirmation manipulation and then evaluated either strong or weak warning labels in terms of message derogation. Next, they reported their intentions to quit smoking. Only for the male sample, message strength moderated the effect of self-affirmation on message derogation. However, message strength did not have a moderating role on both message derogation and quit intentions for the female sample and on quit intentions for the male sample.