Impact of fear levels of feeling towards fear-appeal health warnings on Canadian cigarette packaging among Chinese smokers’ attitude toward smoking and smoking behavior

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore whether fear levels of feeling towards fear-appeal health warning on Canadian cigarette packaging are negatively correlated with attitude toward smoking and smoking behavior among Chinese smokers. 184 Chinese smokers in China were selected to participate in the survey by purposive sampling. The data collected were analyzed using Chi-Square and Cross tabulation. The research results show that: (1) Most of respondents showed higher level of fear towards fear-appeal health warning on Canadian cigarette packaging. (2) Fear levels of feeling towards fear-appeal health warning on Canadian cigarette packaging are negatively correlated with attitude toward smoking among Chinese smokers. This means that the higher the level of fear caused by the fear appeal, the more negative the attitude toward smoking of the health warning can be. (3) Fear levels of feeling towards fear-appeal health warning on Canadian cigarette packaging are partially negatively correlated with smoking behavior among Chinese smokers. This means that the higher the level of fear caused by the fear appeal may partially make the more negative smoking behavior of the health warning. Smoking addictiveness may cause smokers to continue smoking behavior in order to relieve their inner anxiety, and will not be affected by fear-appeal health warning on cigarette packaging.