Comparisons of health-related and appearance-related smoking risk perceptions and worry on motivation to quit

Abstract

This research examined main and interactive associations of perceived risk and worry of health and appearance smoking consequences on motivation to quit and the relative importance of each of these. Hierarchical regressions controlling for other measures found that perceived conditional risk and worry of health consequences were associated with motivation to quit; only conditional risk of appearance consequences was associated with motivation to quit. Relative weights analysis indicated that perceived conditional risk of appearance consequences and worry about health consequences were the most important variables in the model. Consideration of appearance consequences may aid in motivating smokers to try quitting.