Coping with threats to health: effects of persuasive appeals on depressed, normal, and antisocial personalities.

Why do people frequently persist with unhealthy life-styles when they know they are harming themselves? To investigate the role of several personality variables, 114 depressed, antisocial, and normal individuals read health promotion and disease prevention communications about alcohol abuse, lack of exercise, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The results revealed that, compared to a low-coping ability information condition, a high-coping ability condition motivated normal individuals to protect themselves but did not motivate either depressed or antisocial individuals. Additional findings indicated that threat appeals worked only if people were persuaded that they could cope with the health threats; attempts to frighten people without reassuring them had a deleterious effect. Men were more concerned than women about the costs of drinking in moderation, exercising, and protection against STDs and were more reluctant than women to give up the pleasures associated with heavy drinking and unprotected sex.