Work

Smoking at the workplace: effects of genetic and environmental causal accounts on attitudes toward smoking employees and restrictive policies

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: People hold diverse beliefs regarding the etiologies of individual and group differences in behaviors which, in turn, might affect their attitudes and behaviors. It is important to establish how perceived etiologies for smoking might affect the effectiveness of policy initiatives and prevention efforts. The present study assessed whether exposure to genetic vs. environmental accounts for smoking affects attitudes towards a) workplace-related smoking policies and b) smokers at the workplace. Results indicate that exposure to a genetic explanation led to stronger objections to a smoking restrictive policy compared with a non-genetic explanation. Additionally, participants in the genetic condition were more accepting of a smoker in the workplace than in the environmental condition. Evidently, beliefs about the etiology of smoking influence a range of attitudes related to smokers and smoking related policies.

Source: New Genetics and Society

DOI: 10.1080/14636778.2014.951993

Authors: Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Miron Zuckerman, Paul Duberstein

Institutions: The University of Sydney, University of Rochester, University of Rochester Medicine

Language: English

Topic: Smoking Behavior and Cessation

Subfield: Physiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Australian Research Council, National Institute of Mental Health