How neuroticism affects responses to anti-smoking messages

The effect of trait neuroticism on college students' (n=200) responses to anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) was examined using a 2 (neuroticism: high vs. low) × 3 (message type: personal testimony, secondhand smoke, and informative) × 3 (message: nested within message type) design. We hypothesized that those high in neuroticism would be avoidant toward anti-smoking messages, have quicker and stronger negative reactions and perceive the messages as more biased and less involving. As hypothesized, those high in neuroticism were more likely to want to avoid thinking about smoking as a function of viewing the messages and more likely to see messages as biased; however, neuroticism did not affect judgments of message involvement. Tobacco use and gender also affected message bias and avoidance. Those scoring high in neuroticism also responded quicker to negative emotion assessments to messages. Implications for the importance of neuroticism in message design and message processing research are discussed.