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Risk perception and cigar smoking behavior
F Baker1, J T Dye, M M Denniston
1American Cancer Society, Behavioral Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329-4251, USA. fbaker@cancer.org
American Journal of Health Behavior
|April 12, 2001
Abstract
Objective:
To examine the cigar smoking perceptions and behaviors of US adults.
Methods:
A national sample of 1,012 adults was interviewed by telephone.
Results:
Current cigar smokers differed from nonsmokers in perceptions of personal risk for cancer and views about cigar smoking as a cancer cause. Both groups showed substantial acceptance of the glamorized image of cigarsmokers.
Conclusion:
Although recognizing smoking as a cancer cause in general, cigar smokers tended to show a self-exempting "optimistic bias" with regard to perceptions of their own risks.