Prosociality and public support for tobacco control policies among South Korean adults: A cross-sectional study

Jaeyoung Ha; Heewon Kang; Ichiro Kawachi; Jieun Hwang; Sung-Il Cho

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101809

Prosociality and public support for tobacco control policies among South Korean adults: A cross-sectional study

SSM Popul Health. 2025 Apr 24:30:101809. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101809. eCollection 2025 Jun.

Authors

Jaeyoung Ha¹, Heewon Kang^{2

3}, Ichiro Kawachi⁴, Jieun Hwang^{5

6}, Sung-Il Cho^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Health Administration, College of Health Science, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Institute of Convergence Healthcare, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

•Prosociality can be a powerful motivator for policy support by influencing decisions that consider others.•Character and virtue are significantly correlated with support for tobacco control policies.•Stratified results suggest that this relationship remains significant among current nicotine users for indoor tobacco use bans.•Effective health policy requires communication rooted in prosocial values while considering virtue-based approaches.