Moderating Effects of Social Norms on Message Frame in Vaping Prevention: An Application of Deviance Regulation...

Background: The current study examined how the interplay between message frame and vaping norms impacted college students' responses to vaping prevention messages, from the lens of deviance regulation theory. Objectives: College students (N = 231) were randomly assigned to one of seven conditions in a 2 (message frame: positive, negative) by 3 (manipulated vaping norm: high, low, none) + 1 control (recycling) between-subjects experiment. Participants' preconceived vaping norms, vaping history, and health harm and addiction beliefs in vaping were also measured. Results: Results showed a main effect of message frame and an interaction effect between message frame and preconceived vaping norms in a way that is consistent with DRT prediction. A positive frame led to less freedom threat and negative cognition, and more favorable message attitudes, compared to a negative frame. Moreover, participants who had a low preconceived vaping norm and viewed a negative frame reported more favorable attitudes than those who had a low preconceived vaping norm and viewed a positive frame. Similarly, participants who had a high preconceived vaping norm and viewed a positive frame reported more favorable attitudes than those who had a low preconceived vaping norm and viewed a positive frame. No significant interaction between message frame and manipulated vaping norms was found. Conclusions: Findings of the study suggested that in using DRT-based interventions, utilizing preconceived norms provides a better approach than manipulated norms for producing more favorable message responses.