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Psychological Reactance and Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Tobacco‐Control Measures
Author(s) -
Wiium Nora,
Aarø Leif E.,
Hetland Jørn
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00501.x
Subject(s) - reactance , psychology , social psychology , control (management) , telephone survey , sample (material) , developmental psychology , resistance (ecology) , clinical psychology , advertising , chemistry , physics , business , management , chromatography , quantum mechanics , voltage , economics , ecology , biology
The theory of psychological reactance predicts that, to the extent that smoking‐control measures are perceived as threatening the individual's freedom to choose among behavioral alternatives, they may be met with resistance. Data were collected from a national representative sample of 2,400 young people (ages 16–20) by telephone interviews. Dispositional reactance was shown to be associated with smoking. Principal components analyses revealed that a distinction should be made between attitudes toward weak and attitudes toward strong smoking‐control measures. Attitudes toward strong measures were particularly negative among regular smokers. Among regular smokers, dispositional reactance was found to be significantly associated with attitudes toward strong tobacco‐control measures. Processes of psychological reactance deserve attention when designing smoking control programs.