College Student Smokers' Cognitive Appraisal of High-Risk Activities

Objective: Students who smoke are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as binge drinking and unprotected sex (Schnieder and Morris, "Environ Behav." 1999; 23:575-591). The goals of the present study were to determine whether smokers assess these behaviors as lower risk than nonsmokers, and if smoking rate influences risk perceptions. Methods: Participants were 303 college students. Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Activities (Fromme et al., "Cognit Ther Res." 1997; 21:421-442) and smoking were assessed August-November, 2006. Results: Smokers reported significantly less risk, more benefit, and more involvement in risky behaviors than nonsmokers (p less than 0.01). In hierarchical linear regression, risk perceptions moderated the association between smoking and (a) expected benefit from risky sexual behaviors (beta = -1.121, p less than 0.05); and (b) expected involvement with illicit drugs (beta = -0.313, p less than 0.01). Conclusions: College smokers' assessment of high-risk behaviors influenced their intended involvement. Risk perception change may therefore alter their involvement in high-risk behaviors. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)