Communicating Risk Without Creating Unintended Effects‪.‬

Abstract: Health risk messages conveying susceptibility to and severity of a threat are prone to producing unintended consequences. This study examined the positive and negative effects of risk messages designed to promote sun protective behavior among Midwestern college students. The results suggest that when strong perceptions of threat are accompanied by strong efficacy perceptions, risk messages can effectively motivate behavior change. When perceived threat was high but perceived efficacy was low, college students denied the risk of skin cancer as a mere exaggeration. Ways of enhancing the effectiveness of health risk messages and of minimizing adverse reactions from college students are discussed. **********