Effects of threat appeal for preventing obesity and non-communicable disease

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the effects of threat appeal in preventing obesity and non-communicable disease among university students. Participants were Japanese university students (N=395). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) examined differences in cognitive variables (threat appraisal, coping appraisal, protective motivation, usefulness, and acceptability) for protecting against threat appeals under threat information vs. threat & coping information conditions. Also, covariance structure analysis was conducted to identify models in which threat appeals promoted protective motivation by enhancing cognitive variables under each condition. The results indicated that usefulness and acceptability scores were significantly different between the two conditions with significantly higher scores for participants in the threat & coping information condition. Moreover, both threat appraisal and coping appraisal positively influenced the usefulness and acceptability of the message in the threat & coping information condition, whereas coping appraisal influenced only the usefulness and acceptability of the message in the threat information condition. Overall, these results suggest the possibility that both types of threat appeal could promote protective motivation.