Worry as a moderator of the association between risk perceptions and quitting intentions in young adult and adult smokers.

Background: Although much work addresses the association between risk perceptions and behavior, much less attention has been devoted to identifying psychosocial and sociodemographic moderators of this relationship.

Purpose: We explored whether worry moderates the relationship between risk perceptions and behavioral intentions in an adult sample (where the relationship is typically positive) and a young adult sample (where we have found that the relationship can be negative).

Method: Two samples of smokers (adults and college students) were asked to report worry, risk perceptions, and quitting intentions as part of two cessation interventions.

When focusing on negative and positive attributes of the self elicits more inductive self-judgment.

Self-judgments can range from inductive (i.e., based on relevant characteristics, behaviors, and past experiences) to deductive (i.