News about Genetics and Smoking Priming, Family Smoking History, and News Story Believability on Inferences of Genetic Susceptibility to Tobacco Addiction

Print news stories about genetics convey information to the public. This study assesses the effects of priming a belief in genetic susceptibility to smoking addiction on smokers' inferences about their own susceptibility to smoking addiction, their efficacy to quit smoking, and their intention to get a genetic test for addiction susceptibility. Respondents were 450 young adult smokers surveyed on the telephone in a randomized experiment embedded in a questionnaire about cigarette smoking practices. In the priming condition, respondents heard a news story about genes for smoking addiction. In the unprimed condition, respondents heard a news story concerning the gender of the offspring of smokers. Priming with the genetics news story did not affect respondents' inferences about personal genetic susceptibility to smoking addiction. However, those finding the news story believable and having a strong family history of smoking were more likely to infer a greater personal genetic susceptibility.