Psychological Reactance and Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Tobacco‐Control Measures

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.