Abstract
BackgroundTobacco companies argue that the decision to smoke is made by well-informed rational adults who have considered all the risks and benefits of smoking. Yet in promoting their products, the tobacco industry frequently relies on affect, portraying their products as part of a desirable lifestyle. Research examining the roles of affect and perceived risks in smoking has been scant and non-existent for novel tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).MethodsWe examined the relationship between affect, perceived risk, and current use for cigarettes and e-cigarettes in 2015 in a nationally representative sample of 5398 U.S. adults who were aware of e-cigarettes.ResultsParticipants held various affective associations with tobacco products, and affect towards cigarettes was more negative than affect towards e-cigarettes. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), affect towards cigarettes and e-cigarettes was associated with cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use respectively, and these associations were both direct and partially mediated by risk perceptions towards smoking and e-cigarette use. More positive affect towards cigarettes or e-cigarettes was associated with lower perceived risks, which in turn was associated with higher odds of being a current cigarette or e-cigarette user.ConclusionsIn developing models explaining tobacco use behavior, or in creating public communication campaigns aimed at curbing tobacco use, it is useful to focus not only on the reason based predictors, such as perceptions of risks and benefits, but also on affective predictors. Educational efforts aimed at further smoking reductions should highlight and reinforce negative images and associations with cigarettes.
Highlights
Tobacco companies argue that the decision to smoke is made by well-informed rational adults who have considered all the risks and benefits of smoking
Tobacco companies have denied that nicotine is addictive [10] and have argued that they should not be blamed for the deaths and diseases caused by smoking because the decision to smoke was made by a rational, well-informed adult who knew and willingly accepted the risks of smoking [1, 11, 12]
We evaluated whether the pattern of associations among affect, risk perceptions, and product use for cigarettes and e-cigarettes is consistent with a mediational model derived from the theoretical framework of the affect heuristic and “risk as feelings” whereby affect has an indirect effect on product use through risk perceptions
Summary
Tobacco companies argue that the decision to smoke is made by well-informed rational adults who have considered all the risks and benefits of smoking. Tobacco companies have denied that nicotine is addictive [10] and have argued that they should not be blamed for the deaths and diseases caused by smoking because the decision to smoke was made by a rational, well-informed adult who knew and willingly accepted the risks of smoking [1, 11, 12]. In their advertising, tobacco companies have employed quite a different strategy. They focus on affect instead of the analytic perception of risk
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