Body Consciousness Moderates the Effect of Message Framing on Intentions to Use Sunscreen

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of messages differing in focus (health vs appearance) and frame (gain vs loss) on intentions for sunscreen use and sunbed use, and the potential moderating role of body consciousness. Questionnaire data from 390 young adults were analysed using factorial ANOVA. Results showed a significant interaction between message frame and body consciousness, such that gain-framed health or appearance messages had the strongest effect on sunscreen use intentions for those high in body consciousness, compared to those low in body consciousness. We conclude that message framing effects on precautionary sun behaviour intentions are moderated by body consciousness.

Gain-Framed Messages Do Not Motivate Sun Protection: A Meta-Analytic Review of Randomized Trials Comparing Gain-Framed and Loss-Framed Appeals for Promoting Skin Cancer Prevention

“…When a given investigation was reported in more than one outlet, it was treated as a single study and analyzed accordingly. The same research was reported (in whole or in part) in: [20] and ([21], Study 2); [22] and [23]; [24], [25], and [26]; [27] and [28]; [29] and [30]; [31] and [32]; [33] and [34]; [35] and [36]; [37] and [38]. The individual effect sizes (correlations) were analyzed using random-effects procedures (specifically, those of [39]).…”

Framing Effects in Narrative and Non‐Narrative Risk Messages

“…Many of the participants reported being in the top 8% of those taking the quantitative SAT and most were in the top 20%. However, previous studies have indicated that higher levels of education do not necessarily eliminate gain/loss framing effects . To check this, an analysis with SAT as a covariate found no significant effect of SAT and did not change the pattern of results.…”

“…However, previous studies have indicated that higher levels of education do not necessarily eliminate gain/loss framing effects. (43,44) To check this, an analysis with SAT as a covariate found no significant effect of SAT and did not change the pattern of results. Experiments 2 and 3 use a more diverse sample by drawing on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk).…”

Being healthy or looking good? The effectiveness of health versus appearance-focused arguments in two-sided messages

“…However, more recent studies show that health risk prevention campaigns solely focusing on health aspects (such as skin cancer and risk of obesity) instead of appearance aspects (such as wrinkles and looking bad) may fall short (Heckman et al, 2009). Appearance aspects also play an important role in the effectiveness of health campaigns (Hevey et al, 2010).…”