Background and Behavioral Cue Weighting in Current Versus Age-60 Disease-Risk Judgments: Two Cross-Disease Scenario Studies
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Background Disease-risk judgments combine stable background characteristics with behaviors that may change. We examined whether cue weights differed between judgments of current risk and risk at age 60. Because the age-60 prompt changes both temporal perspective and target age, construal-level theory was treated as one interpretive lens rather than the mechanism tested. Methods We reanalyzed two archived questionnaire data sets. Study 1 included 1,190 undergraduates who evaluated hypertension and osteoporosis; Study 2 included 869 participants who evaluated nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gallstones. Complementary questionnaire forms paired one disease with a current-risk judgment and the other with an age-60 judgment. Random allocation was not documented. Temporal frame was form-defined; sex, ancestry, family history, and behavioral scores were measured characteristics. Perceived likelihood was the primary outcome. Disease-specific linear models used continuous behavioral cues and HC3 robust standard errors; cross-disease models used participant-clustered standard errors. False-discovery-rate correction was applied within defined testing families. Results Guangdong ancestry was more strongly associated with perceived likelihood of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the age-60 frame than in the current frame ( B = 0.645, SE = 0.173, 95% CI 0.305 to 0.985, p = 0.000197, q = 0.001577). The frame-by-female-sex interaction for osteoporosis was also supported ( B = 0.638, SE = 0.204, 95% CI 0.237 to 1.038, p = 0.001791, q = 0.008588), although sample-restriction sensitivity remained. The hypertension frame-by-salt-intake estimate was smaller and did not survive multiplicity correction ( B = 0.187, SE = 0.092, 95% CI 0.005 to 0.368, p = 0.043616, q = 0.096388). No key gallstone interaction was detected. Most cross-disease three-way interactions were non-significant or multiplicity-sensitive, and outcome components showed different patterns. Conclusions The relative weight of background and behavioral cues differed between current and age-60 disease-risk judgments. Differences were clearest for Guangdong ancestry in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and female sex in osteoporosis; the hypertension pattern was weaker, and no consistent gallstone pattern emerged. The findings suggest that health messages may work better when the age frame matches the risk cue and links it to clear preventive or screening action. Because the age-60 prompt also changes objective age-related risk, direct intervention testing is needed.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Wenjuan Cao, Min Fu, Yongyou Luo, Chao Lei
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225381736