Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020;8(1):96-109.
doi: 10.1080/21642850.2020.1730844. Epub 2020 Feb 20.

Effect of risk messages on risk appraisals, attitudes, ambivalence, and willingness to smoke hookah in young adults

Darren Mays  1 , Andrea C Johnson  1   2 , Lilianna Phan  1 , Kenneth P Tercyak  1 , Kathryn Rehberg  1 , Isaac Lipkus  3
Affiliations

Effect of risk messages on risk appraisals, attitudes, ambivalence, and willingness to smoke hookah in young adults

Darren Mays et al. Health Psychol Behav Med. 2020.

Abstract

Objective: We examined effects of hookah tobacco risk messages on risk appraisals, attitudes towards hookah, ambivalence about hookah use, and willingness to smoke in young adults aged 18-30 years (n = 234).

Design: In an online experiment, participants completed preexposure measures and were randomized to hookah tobacco risk messages or to a no message control condition.

Main outcome measures: Risk appraisals, attitudes, ambivalence, and willingness to smoke hookah.

Results: Those who viewed risk messages reported greater risk appraisals (M 4.50, SD 1.17 vs. M 3.87, SD 1.16, p < .001), less positive attitudes (M -0.56, SD 1.24, vs. M 0.39, SD 1.35, p < .001), greater ambivalence (M 3.86, SD 1.26, vs. M 3.08, SD 1.32, p < .001), and less willingness to smoke than controls (M 4.48, SD 1.27, vs. M 4.85, SD 1.37, p = .034). Structural equation modeling demonstrated messages reduced willingness to smoke by evoking less positive attitudes (b = -0.15, 95% CI -0.32, -0.05) and by the effect of heightened risk appraisals on less positive attitudes (b = -0.14, 95% CI -0.30, -0.07).

Conclusions: Honing messages and understanding their mechanisms of action are necessary to produce more effective interventions to address hookah and other tobacco use in young adults.

Keywords: Young adults; ambivalence; attitude; risk communication; tobacco.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Final structural equation model. Note: Direct paths from the model illustrated here. Measurement model and factor loadings are not shown. Model fit statistics were RMSEA = 0.06 [90% CI = 0.03, 0.07], CFI = 0.97, SRMR = 0.06. *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aboaziza, E., & Eissenberg, T. (2015). Waterpipe tobacco smoking: What is the evidence that it supports nicotine/tobacco dependence? Tobacco Control, 24(Suppl 1), i44–i53. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051910 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ajzen, I. (2001). Nature and operation of attitudes. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 27–58. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.27 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akl, E. A., Ward, K. D., Bteddini, D., Khaliel, R., Alexander, A. C., Lotfi, T., … Afifi, R. A. (2015). The allure of the waterpipe: A narrative review of factors affecting the epidemic rise in waterpipe smoking among young persons globally. Tobacco Control, 24(Suppl 1), i13–i21. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051906 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bahelah, R., DiFranza, J. R., Fouad, F. M., Ward, K. D., Eissenberg, T., & Maziak, W. (2016). Early symptoms of nicotine dependence among adolescent waterpipe smokers. Tobacco Control, 25(e2), e127–e134. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2015-052809 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

LinkOut - more resources