Prediction of injunctive and descriptive norms for willingness to quit smoking: The mediating role of smoking risk perception

Abstract

Although social norms play an important role in smoking cessation, relatively little is known about the underlying mechanisms of influence of specific social norms on willingness to quit smoking. This study aimed to test the mediated role of smoking risk perception on the relationship between social norms (injunctive norms and descriptive norms) and willingness to quit smoking. A total of 340 smokers completed questionnaires about perceived descriptive norms and injunctive norms, smoking risk perception, and willingness to quit smoking and nicotine dependence. Mediation analysis shows that (1) descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and smoking risk perception were all predictors of the willingness to quit smoking and that (2) smoking risk perception completely mediated the predictive effect of injunctive norms on willingness to quit smoking and partially mediated the predictive effect of descriptive norms on willingness to quit smoking. Overall, these findings suggest that smoking risk perception is an important underlying internal mechanisms for explaining how descriptive norms and injunctive norms respectively influence smokers’ willingness to quit smoking.