Do risk-minimizing beliefs about smoking inhibit quitting? Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four-Country Survey (original) (raw)
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Preventive Medicine - PREV MED, 2004
Objective. To determine the prevalence, correlates, and predictive value for intention to quit of 18 commonly expressed self-exempting beliefs about smoking among smokers and recent quitters, some 20 years after intensive tobacco control commenced in Australia.Method. National telephone survey of randomly selected 802 adults (685 smokers; 117 recent quitters).Main outcome measures. Level of agreement or disagreement with 18 self-exempting beliefs about smoking and intention to quit.Results. Four coherent categories of self-exempting beliefs are widely held by smokers (“bulletproof”, “skeptic”, “jungle”, and “worth it”). Smokers who hold self-exempting beliefs are more likely to be aged over 50, smoke more than 15 cigarettes per day, have less than 12 years of schooling, and be in the precontemplation stage of change. All scales had some relationship with progress towards quitting. In particular, “worth it” beliefs are powerful independent predictors of smokers not planning to quit.Conclusions. Some self-exempting beliefs seem to act as a shield for smokers, giving them false reassurance and allowing them to avoid thinking deeply about the importance of quitting. This is particularly true of “worth it” beliefs. The prevalence of such beliefs may suggest confusion about smoking being a risk rather than a probable cause of illness. Creative approaches to increasing the saliency of the costs of smoking may be fruitful.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2016
An investigation of beliefs used to rationalise smoking will have important implications for the content of anti-smoking programs targeted at socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, who show the lowest rates of cessation in the population. This study aimed to assess the types of self-exempting beliefs reported by a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers, and identify associations between these beliefs and other smoking-related factors with quit intentions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from March-December 2012 with smokers seeking welfare assistance in New South Wales (NSW), Australia (n = 354; response rate 79%). Responses to a 16-item self-exempting beliefs scale and intention to quit, smoker identity, and enjoyment of smoking were assessed. Most participants earned <AUD$400/week (70%), and had not completed secondary schooling (64%). All "jungle" beliefs (normalising the dangers of smoking due to ubiquity of risk) and selected "skeptic" beliefs were endorsed by 25%-47% of the sample, indicating these smokers may not fully understand the extensive risks associated with smoking. Smokers with limited quit intentions held significantly stronger self-exempting beliefs than those contemplating or preparing to quit (all p < 0.01). After adjusting for smoking-related variables only "skeptic" beliefs were significantly associated with intention to quit (p = 0.02). Some of these beliefs are incorrect and could be addressed in anti-smoking campaigns.
2016
Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of disengagement beliefs in smoking cessation. The association of disengagement beliefs with forward transition through the transtheoretical stages of change and self-reported quitting were examined, with and without adjusting for processes of change. Methods: A longitudinal survey was conducted among Dutch smokers, resulting in 367 respondents who completed two questionnaires, one at baseline and one at 8 months follow-up. Disengagement beliefs, intention to quit, actual quitting, and the processes of change were assessed. Results: The findings showed that disengagement beliefs were negatively associated with forward stage transition and actual quitting. Processes of change only partly mediated these associations. Conclusions: Adhering to disengagement beliefs seems to be an inhibitor of progression towards smoking cessation and actual quitting, also after adjustment for processes of change.
Risk Beliefs and Smoking Behavior
Economic Inquiry, 2008
We analyze smoking risk beliefs and smoking behavior using individual data from 1997 for the United States and 1998 for Massachusetts. Smokers and adults more generally overestimate the lung cancer risks of smoking and the mortality risks and life expectancy loss.
Addictive Behaviors, 2005
Older smokers represent an important subgroup that has been shown to benefit considerably from quitting smoking. However, to date little is known about relevant beliefs, intentions, and motivations. This study examined factors associated with older smokers' (aged 60 years and above) intention to quit smoking using data gathered via the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey (ITCPES), a random digit dialed telephone survey of over 9000 adult smokers from United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia. Having smoked for a long time and having survived, it was hypothesized that older smokers would perceive themselves as being less vulnerable to the harm of smoking (self-exempting beliefs); be less concerned about the health effects of smoking; be less confident about being able to quit successfully (self-efficacy); not perceive any health benefit of quitting, and hence be less willing to want to quit. Controlling for possible confounders, the hypotheses were all confirmed. Further analysis into reported considerations for quitting revealed that price of cigarettes, health professional advice, cheap quitting medication, and information on health risks were important predictors of quitting intention, with cigarette price and cheap medication also associated with recent quit attempts. Together, these findings have important implications for developing strategies for encouraging older smokers to give up smoking. D
Smoking-specific compensatory health beliefs and the readiness to stop smoking in adolescents
British Journal of Health Psychology, 2010
Objective. Compensatory health beliefs (CHBs) are defined as beliefs that negative consequences of unhealthy behaviours can be compensated for by engaging in other health behaviours. CHBs have not yet been investigated in detail regarding smoking. Smoking might cause cognitive dissonance in smokers, if they are aware that smoking is unhealthy and simultaneously hold the general goal of staying healthy. Hence, CHBs are proposed as one strategy for smokers to resolve such cognitive dissonance. The aim of the present study was to develop a scale to measure smoking-specific CHBs among adolescents and to test whether CHBs are related to a lower readiness to stop smoking. Design. For the main analyses, cross-sectional data were used. In order to investigate the retest-reliability follow-up data, 4 months later were included in the analysis. Method. A newly developed scale for smoking-specific CHBs in adolescents was tested for its validity and reliability as well as its predictive value for the readiness to stop smoking in a sample of 244 smokers (15-21 years) drawn from different schools. Multilevel modelling was applied. Results. Evidence was found for the reliability and validity of the smoking-specific CHB scale. Smoking-specific CHBs were Significantly negatively related to an individual's readiness to stop smoking, even after controlling for other predictors such as self-efficacy or conscientiousness. Conclusions. CHBs may provide one possible explanation for why adolescents fail to stop smoking. Theoretical background Smoking remains a major cause of disease and death worldwide (Doll, Peto, Boreham, & Sutherland, 2004). Despite a decline over the last few years in most high-resource countries such as Canada, smoking is still prevalent, especially among young people (Shafey, Eriksen, Ross, & Mackay, 2009). In Switzerland, for example, 14% of IS-to 19-year-olds are daily smokers (boys: 16%, girls: 11%;
Risk denial about smoking hazards and readiness to quit among French smokers: An exploratory study
Addictive Behaviors, 2007
In most developed countries, a significant part of the population is still smoking despite comprehensive tobacco control policies. Among other reasons, many smokers may endorse self-exempting beliefs that help them to deny the smoking hazards for themselves. We investigated the relationship between smokers' risk denial and their readiness to quit making use of a French cross-sectional survey conducted in the Paris Ile-de-France Region (N = 939 smokers). Self-exempting beliefs were quite widespread among participants and two of them were significant predictors of a low readiness to quit: considering that one's cigarette consumption is too low to be harmful and believing that one's way of smoking can protect from smoking-related diseases. Future tobacco control messages and interventions should specifically address these self-exempting beliefs that reduce smokers' cognitive dissonance and then inhibit their willingness to quit. D