Temporal Framing and Consideration of Future Consequences: Effects on Smokers’ and At-Risk Nonsmokers’ Responses to Cigarette Health Warnings

Abstract

This research examines the influence of temporal framing (long-term vs. short-term) and individual difference in consideration of future consequences (CFC) on the effectiveness of cigarette health warnings among smokers and at-risk nonsmokers in a college population. An online experiment (N = 395) revealed a three-way interaction among temporal framing, CFC, and smoking status. The results among at-risk nonsmokers supported the temporal fit hypothesis—those high in CFC responded more favorably to long-term framing, whereas those low in CFC responded more positively to short-term framing. The findings among smokers revealed a different pattern in which short-term framing was more effective among high-CFC smokers, whereas among low-CFC smokers the framing effect was not distinct. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Notes

¹ By way of validation, we compared the at-risk nonsmokers and not-at-risk nonsmokers in our sample on sensation seeking, a well-established predictor of risky health behavior (Zuckerman, 2007). The measure of sensation seeking (Hoyle, Stephenson, Palmgreen, Lorch, & Donohew, 2002) was taken in the prequestionnaire prior to warning exposure and ranged from 1 (low) to 7 (high). At-risk nonsmokers showed a significantly higher level of sensation seeking than not-at-risk nonsmokers (Ms = 4.62 vs. 4.18, t = 4.94, df = 858, p < .001). Moreover, the difference between at-risk and not-at-risk nonsmokers (.34) was comparable in size to that between at-risk nonsmokers and smokers (.44, M_smokers = 5.05).

² In these analyses, we generally found an interaction between gain versus loss framing and graphics versus text only, with the loss frame combined with graphics showing the greatest effectiveness. There was no main effect of or interaction involving temporal framing.

³ We consulted a useful website (http://www.tobaccolabels.ca/healthwarningimages), which archived a large collection of graphic cigarette warning labels, organized by country, as well as by theme.

⁴ The partition of sum of squares in simple interaction analysis is not straightforward because such information comes from two different sources (total sample analysis and subsample analysis). Effect sizes for these simple two-way interactions were not calculated.