Campaigns to get youngsters to stop smoking might be more successful if they highlighted the benefits of quitting, rather than focusing on the dangers of the habit.
A new study has found that even when youngsters appreciate the risks of activities like smoking, they still respond more to positive information and less to negative stories.
The prospect of having better skin and more money in their pockets, for instance, is more likely to resonate with them than warnings about increased disease risk.
A team of researchers at University College London quizzed volunteers between the ages of nine and 26 to find out how likely they thought they would be to experience a range of “adverse life events”, such as getting lung disease or being involved in a car accident.
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