Method The participants in this study consisted of 29 undergraduate students taken from a general psychology course at a small liberal arts college in southern New Hampshire. The participants agreed to volunteer in the study in exchange for course credit. Age of participants ranged from 18 to 23 with a mean age of 19.79. Six of the participants were male and 23 were female.
Based on self-reports of current smoking habits, 58% percent of participants indicated abstinence from smoking and currently did not use cigarettes. 13.8% of participants reported smoking less than once a week and 3.4% of the sample smoked at least once a week, but not everyday. Finally, 24.1% of participants reported daily smoking and smoked a mean of 4.86 cigarettes each day.
Participants were given instructions and a consent form (see Appendix A) that outlined the purpose of the research and their personal rights. Participants were told that the goal of the present study was to investigate college students’ attitudes towards smoking and other health related issues through the use of various questionnaires. They were informed that they had the right not to answer any questions and the right to leave the study at any time. In addition, they were informed and assured of their confidentiality.
The first questionnaire used (see Appendix B) was based on prior research (Schmid, 2001; Freeman et al., 2001) and designed to measure an individual’s current smoking behavior and conformity to the smoker stereotype. Questions 1-7 assessed demographics (such as age and gender) and smoking status. Questions 8-17 are taken from prior research conducted by Freeman et al. (2001). Participants are asked to rate themselves on 11 traits associated with smoking. Higher scores on a 16-point semantic differential indicate a higher consistency between an individual’s self-concept and smoker stereotype. Half of the pairs were reversed on the questionnaire. Cronbach’s ? = .83 was computed for the 11 items (Freeman et al.., 2001).
Next, participants were administered the Smoking Attitudes Scale (see Appendix C for sample items) designed by Adams, Shore, and Tashchian (2000) to assess beliefs on a wide variety of smoking related issues. The scale was found to produce significantly different scores for smokers and non-smokers; with smokers possessing consistently more favorable attitudes towards smoking related topics (Adams et al., 2000). The overall reliability of the measure was found to be .90 (Adams et al., 2000).
The Smoking Attitudes Scale asked participants to rate on a 7-point scale how strongly they agree (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) with 17 smoking related statements. Specifically, the scale was comprised of four subscales which measured attitudes towards different issues relevant to cigarette smoking. These subscales included smoking restrictions, health concerns, the marketing of cigarettes, and relationships with smokers and had reliability measures of .80, .70, .69, and .88 (Adams, et al., 2000). Sample questions include “second-hand smoke is a legitimate health risk” and non-smokers should be more tolerant of smokers.”
Participants were then randomly assigned to either the Multiple Sclerosis or smoking condition. In the smoking condition, participants were instructed to read a list of negative smoking related health consequences (see Appendix D) taken from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2004). The facts outlined the risks of developing lung cancer and heart disease as a result of chronic smoking. A sample fact includes: “Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer, and cigarette smoking causes most cases."
Participants in the control group were asked to read 12 facts about Multiple Sclerosis (see Appendix E) taken from an informational website (http://www.multiple sclerosis.com). These facts outlined possible causes of Multiple Sclerosis and related statistics. A sample item includes, “most people with Multiple Sclerosis are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50.”
Participants were then were given identical questionnaires (see Appendix F) derived from the research of Strype, Sutton, and Rise (2002) to evaluate their perception of smoking related risks. Specifically, the questionnaire assessed participants’ perception of the probability that they would develop Multiple Sclerosis, lung cancer, and heart disease. The first question asked participants to determine their chances of developing Multiple Sclerosis in comparison to an average young person in the United States. The next four items (2-5) asked participants to compare their probability of developing lung cancer and heart disease with the probability of smokers and non-smokers of developing these illnesses. One sample item includes, “Compared with the average male/female cigarette smoker in the U.S., do you think your chances of getting lung cancer are…” Participants were asked to rate their risk on a 7-point likert scale, ranging from “much higher” to “much lower.”
The last six questions (6-11) require participants to assess the likelihood of illness by estimating the probability on a scale from 0-100% (in which 0% denotes no chance while 100% implies 100% certainty). In items 8 and 10, participants estimated their probability of developing lung cancer, if they were to maintain their current smoking habits and if they were to quit. Items 9 and 11 posed the same question, but asked participants to consider an average smoker and not themselves. A sample item includes, “If you continue to smoke at the current level for the rest of your life, what would you say are your chances of getting lung cancer at some time in your life?” Similarly, participants are also asked to estimate their own and others' chances of developing Multiple Sclerosis in items 6 and 7.
This experiment was conducted under the guidelines regarding use of human participants as set out by the American Psychological Association. Therefore, prior to the study, participants were informed of the nature of the research and given a consent form. Once each participant gave consent to participate, they were each administered identical questionnaires as a group in a quiet classroom. This questionnaire was designed to assess demographics and participants’ smoking behaviors and attitudes. Participants were then randomly assigned to either the control or smoking condition. Those in the smoking condition read facts about the negative consequences of cigarette smoking. Similarly, participants in the control condition read information about Multiple Sclerosis. Then, all participants completed a final questionnaire to assess their perception of risk of developing lung cancer, heart disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. Upon completion of the questionnaires, participants were given a credit slip toward their general psychology class and a debriefing statement that revealed the purpose of the study (see Appendix F).
Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion Appendices References