Convincing the Truth: An Experimental Study Dataset from Promoting Negative Health Consequences of Smoking Among Adolescent

This dataset is from an experimental study that aims to examine the impact of negative health consequences on adolescent emotions and behavior. We conducted an online invitation and randomization process of 78 high school students from South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. We compared two groups (experimental vs. control) to examine the impact of negative health consequences on their emotions (empathy) and their behavior (prosocial behavior). Our analysis reveals that, compared with non-convincing health message condition (n=40), adolescents with convincing negative health messages condition (n=38), have more empathy (sign=0.005) and prosocial behavior (sign=0.028) to help their smoking peers. Our findings provide a piece of valuable information for sustainability development in the future by reducing underage smokers. We suggest the use of a convincing method to develop a school-based social marketing program for handling the adolescent smoking problem.