TY - JOUR
T1 - Higher negative emotions in response to cigarette pictorial warning labels predict higher quit intentions among smokers
AU - Li, Yachao
AU - Yang, Bo
AU - Owusu, Daniel
AU - Popova, Lucy
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (R00CA187460) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (R01DA047397). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the FDA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Background Cigarette pictorial warning labels (PWLs) could produce stronger quit intentions than text-only warning labels (TWLs) due to greater emotional arousal. Yet, it remains unclear whether PWLs that elicit different levels of emotions produce different outcomes. To better understand the role of negative emotions in the effects of PWLs, this study developed two sets of PWLs arousing different emotional levels (high vs low) but equally high on informativeness and compared them to each other and to the current TWLs. Methods Adult US smokers (n=1503) were randomised to view nine high-emotion-arousing or low-emotion-arousing PWLs or TWLs. After each label, participants reported the negative emotions they felt while looking at the label. After seeing all the labels, participants reported their intentions to quit smoking. Mediation analyses tested whether message condition influenced quit intentions indirectly through negative emotions. Results Compared with TWLs, PWLs produced higher levels of negative emotions (b=0.27, SE=0.04, p<0.001). Compared with low-emotion arousing PWLs, high-emotion-arousing PWLs produced higher levels of negative emotions (b=0.24, SE=0.07, p<0.001). Higher negative emotions predicted stronger quit intentions (b=0.20, SE=0.03, p<0.001). Negative emotions mediated the effects of PWLs versus TWLs and high-emotion-arousing versus low-emotion-arousing PWLs on quit intentions. Conclusions The results provide additional evidence for negative emotions as the mechanism through which PWLs motivate smokers to consider quitting. The findings call on the Food and Drug Administration to design and implement high-emotion-arousing cigarette warning labels.
AB - Background Cigarette pictorial warning labels (PWLs) could produce stronger quit intentions than text-only warning labels (TWLs) due to greater emotional arousal. Yet, it remains unclear whether PWLs that elicit different levels of emotions produce different outcomes. To better understand the role of negative emotions in the effects of PWLs, this study developed two sets of PWLs arousing different emotional levels (high vs low) but equally high on informativeness and compared them to each other and to the current TWLs. Methods Adult US smokers (n=1503) were randomised to view nine high-emotion-arousing or low-emotion-arousing PWLs or TWLs. After each label, participants reported the negative emotions they felt while looking at the label. After seeing all the labels, participants reported their intentions to quit smoking. Mediation analyses tested whether message condition influenced quit intentions indirectly through negative emotions. Results Compared with TWLs, PWLs produced higher levels of negative emotions (b=0.27, SE=0.04, p<0.001). Compared with low-emotion arousing PWLs, high-emotion-arousing PWLs produced higher levels of negative emotions (b=0.24, SE=0.07, p<0.001). Higher negative emotions predicted stronger quit intentions (b=0.20, SE=0.03, p<0.001). Negative emotions mediated the effects of PWLs versus TWLs and high-emotion-arousing versus low-emotion-arousing PWLs on quit intentions. Conclusions The results provide additional evidence for negative emotions as the mechanism through which PWLs motivate smokers to consider quitting. The findings call on the Food and Drug Administration to design and implement high-emotion-arousing cigarette warning labels.
KW - cigarette warning labels
KW - emotions
KW - pictorial warning labels
KW - quit intentions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071053173&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071053173&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055116
DO - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055116
M3 - Article
C2 - 31420374
AN - SCOPUS:85071053173
SN - 0964-4563
VL - 29
SP - 496
EP - 501
JO - Tobacco control
JF - Tobacco control
IS - 5
ER -