Department of Communication, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America.
School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Dec 7;16(12):e0260478. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260478. eCollection 2021.
Research suggests that smoking may compound the risk of serious health problems to smokers who contract COVID-19. This study examines whether and how exposure to news stories reporting the severe COVID-19 risk to smokers may influence smokers' emotional responses (fear, anxiety, and sadness) and intentions to take measures to quit smoking. Current smokers in the US participated in an online experiment (N = 495) and were randomized to read smoking risk news stories or news stories reporting the combined risk of smoking and COVID-19. We found that combined risk news stories lead to participants feeling more fearful and sadder than when they viewed smoking risk news stories (M = 5.74; SD = 2.57 vs. M = 5.20; SD = 2.74; p < .05). Fear fully mediated the effect of news exposure on intentions to take measures to quit smoking (ß = .09; SE = 05; 95% CI [.010, .200]). Moreover, moderated-mediation analyses revealed that the mediating effect of fear was conditioned on the levels of comparative optimism, such that the association between fear and intentions to take measures to quit smoking was only significant among smokers whose comparative optimism was at the mean score (ß = .16; SE = 05; 95% CI [.071, .250]), and for those whose comparative optimism was high (ß = .27; SE = .06; 95% CI [.146, .395]). These results suggest that fear of the pandemic and optimism might play important roles in predicting and explaining the association between exposure to news stories and intentions to take measures to quit smoking. Messages about heightened risk of COVID-19 complications for smokers that increase fear might be an effective strategy to motivate smokers to quit. Such messages should be used to turn the adversity of COVID-19 pandemic into an intervention opportunity to reduce tobacco-related disease.
研究表明，吸烟可能会使感染 COVID-19 的吸烟者面临更严重的健康问题风险。本研究旨在检验接触到报道吸烟者感染 COVID-19 后面临更高风险的新闻故事是否以及如何影响吸烟者的情绪反应（恐惧、焦虑和悲伤）和戒烟意愿。美国的当前吸烟者参与了一项在线实验（N = 495），并被随机分配阅读吸烟风险新闻故事或同时报道吸烟和 COVID-19 双重风险的新闻故事。我们发现，与阅读吸烟风险新闻故事相比，双重风险新闻故事会使参与者感到更恐惧和悲伤（M = 5.74；SD = 2.57 比 M = 5.20；SD = 2.74；p <.05）。恐惧完全中介了新闻接触对戒烟意愿的影响（ß =.09；SE = 05；95% CI [.010，.200]）。此外，调节中介分析表明，恐惧的中介作用受到相对乐观水平的调节，即恐惧与戒烟意愿之间的关联仅在相对乐观水平处于平均值的吸烟者中显著（ß =.16；SE = 05；95% CI [.071，.250]），而在相对乐观水平较高的吸烟者中更为显著（ß =.27；SE =.06；95% CI [.146，.395]）。这些结果表明，对大流行的恐惧和乐观情绪可能在预测和解释接触新闻故事与戒烟意愿之间的关联方面发挥重要作用。增加对吸烟者感染 COVID-19 后并发症风险的恐惧的信息可能是促使吸烟者戒烟的有效策略。应该利用这些信息，将 COVID-19 大流行的逆境转化为减少与烟草相关疾病的干预机会。
