The impact of stage-of-change on willingness to affiliate with smokers

This study assessed whether a smoker's stage-of-change (e.g., precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, or maintenance stage) impacted university students' intention to engage with that smoker in various social situations. Participants (N = 187) were recruited by email and responded online to stimulus materials and dependent measures. Specifically, they read a vignette describing a smoker in one of the five stages of change (or a nonsmoker), and then completed a social affiliation measure (assessing intention to engage in relevant social situations with the vignette person), a modified version of the Attitudes Towards Smoking-18, and a demographic questionnaire. Participants were significantly more willing to affiliate with persons in the later stages of change compared to those in the early stages of change, and their willingness to affiliate was not correlated with expectancies of the effects of smoking.