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The Effect of Temporal Frames in Anti-Smoking Messages on the Extension of Anti-Smoking Arguments to Smokers.

Stella Juhyun Lee
Published in: Journal of health communication (2020)
The present study focused on how exposure to different health message characteristics can affect extension-i.e., the sharing of arguments that were not targeted by the messages but are consistent with the message theme. In the context of anti-smoking campaigns, many messages have either emphasized reasons to quit smoking (why-quit) or ways to quit smoking (how-to-quit). Therefore, guided by construal level theory, the study aimed to examine whether the message characteristic of temporal frames can increase or decrease extension when incorporated into why-quit and how-to-quit anti-smoking messages. Results from a randomized experiment showed that exposure to why-quit messages with distant temporal frames increased extension (vs. no-message control) while why-quit messages with proximal temporal frames did not. Findings further illustrated a potential mechanism, where why-quit messages with proximal frames significantly reduced extension compared to why-quit messages with no temporal frames. Temporal frames did not have a significant effect on extension for how-to-quit messages. Results indicate that emphasizing the present in anti-smoking messages could be detrimental for the extension of why-quit arguments. Implications for applying construal level theory to health message effects research are also discussed.
Keyphrases
  • smoking cessation
  • replacement therapy
  • healthcare
  • public health
  • mental health
  • lymph node
  • cancer therapy