The Effects of a Stigmatizing Anti-Smoking Campaign on Autonomous Vs. Controlled Motivation: The Case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

It has been claimed that anti-smoking campaigns contribute to the stigmatization of smokers and that this stigma can have negative consequences. To explore this possibility, a survey of smokers (N = 207) was conducted in the context of the “Give me one lung cancer” campaign in South Korea. A path analysis revealed a positive relationship between campaign exposure and perceived stigma, suggesting that the campaign indeed exacerbated the stigma attached to smokers. Campaign exposure also had a positive effect on both autonomous and controlled motivation, which were partially mediated by perceived threat and perceived stigma. The positive and negative roles of perceived stigma were found: perceived stigma was positively related to controlled motivation and negatively related to autonomous motivation. As a result, the positive indirect effect of campaign exposure on autonomous motivation was diminished by its indirect effect via perceived stigma. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Notes

1. A more detailed description of the participants is available from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2018S1A3A2074932) and Hallym University (HRF-201812-009).