A simple test to assess the emotional status of smokers (original) (raw)
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Emotional factors are critical motivators for tobacco use according to smokers’ own perception
Journal Of Public Health, 2018
Aim Psychological factors play an important role in tobacco dependence. However, few investigations have focused on smokers' own perception about motivations for tobacco consumption using open-ended questions. Subject and method In this study, we used the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method to investigate the motivations for tobacco use according to smokers' own perception in 135 current smokers. Results The vast majority of patients (83.7%) reported that they smoked cigarettes when seeking relief or emotional comfort. When asked why they smoked, most declared they smoked due to stress, anxiety, or nervousness. Long-term smokers reporting using cigarettes to feel pleasure, in contrast to short-term smokers, who mostly reported they smoked because they felt stress or anxiety (p < 0.001). Most of the patients (71.2%) also reported emotional factors as the reason for increasing the desire to smoke. Heavy smokers smoked more in moments when they felt alone compared to light smokers (p = 0.034). Conclusion The smokers' collective discourses demonstrate that from their own perception, psychological factors are the motivational basis for their use of cigarettes. Therefore, most smokers are conscious of the impact of emotional factors on smoking dependence, and this may play a critical role in quit-smoking programs, as well as presenting an important factor for public health.
Personality and Individual Differences, 1998
Consistent evidence from a large number of studies suggests that personality\ motivation\ and emotional factors contribute to the initiation and continued use of tobacco products[ This study compared the reasons why male smokers "N 156# and smokeless tobacco "SLT# users "N 160# begin and continue to use tobacco products[ The study participants completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire "EPQ#\ and Spielberger|s StateÐTrait Personality Inventory "STPI# and Anger EXpression "AX# Scale[ They also responded to questionnaires designed to evaluate the initiation\ maintenance\ and motivation to use tobacco[ Both SLT!users and smokers reported novelty and enjoyment as the primary reasons for beginning to use tobacco products[ Enjoyment\ stimulation and management of emotions were ranked by both groups as the most important reasons for continuing to use tobacco[ Signi_cant correlations of the EPQ\ STPI\ and AX scales with measures of the initiation\ maintenance and motivation to use tobacco support Eysenck|s Diathesis Stress Model in explaining the persistent use of tobacco products[ Þ 0887
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1992
Smokers (N= 126) were randomly assigned to 6-session smoking cessation treatments consisting of 1 of 2 counseling strategies (skills training or support) and 1 of 2 nicotine exposure strategies (nicotine gum or rapid smoking). Counseling and nicotine strategies were completely crossed; all four combinations resulted in equivalent 1-year abstinence rates. Skills training produced higher initial cessation and more coping responses posttreatment than did support. Rapid smoking, but not nicotine gum, produced tachycardia to the taste of cigarettes posttreatment, consistent with cigarette aversion. The treatments were differentially effective among subpopulations of smokers: Subjects high in pretreatment negative affect responded best to support counseling; those low in pretreatment negative affect responded best to skills training. Self-reports of pretreatment craving predicted response to the nicotine exposure treatments. McFall (1978) noted that progress in smoking cessation research depends on theoretically driven research that systematically links specific interventions with specific mechanisms of change. We undertook this study to demonstrate that specific measures reflect the active ingredients of interventions and that specific treatments are maximally effective for particular patient subpopulations (i.e., treatment matching). In this study we evaluate comparative effectiveness and possible routes of impact of two counseling treatments (supportive counseling and skills training) and two nicotine exposure treatments (rapid smoking and nicotine chewing gum). Counseling Interventions Cognitive behavior therapy, or coping skills training, and interactional support groups are perhaps the most widely used counseling interventions for smoking and other addictive disorders (e.g., Hester & Miller, 1989). Although the relative value of skills training and support treatment elements has been studied in other populations, their relative value in smoking treatment is not well established. Tiffany, Martin, and Baker (1986) showed that including coping skills training in a support group The research reported in this article was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant R01 285197-03, awarded to Timothy B. Baker. We thank Julianne Smith, Michael Zinser, and Shelly Curran for their excellent help in conducting this research. We also thank Jean Chapman for her invaluable help regarding the analysis and presentation of the results.
Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2008
The present investigation evaluated the relations between anxiety sensitivity and motivational bases of cigarette smoking, as well as barriers to quitting smoking, above and beyond concurrent substance use, negative affectivity, and emotional dysregulation among a community sample of 189 daily cigarette smokers (46% women; M age = 24.97 years, SD = 9.78). Results indicated that anxiety sensitivity was significantly related to coping, addictive, and habitual smoking motives, as well as greater perceived barriers to quitting. These effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by concurrent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and discernable from shared variance with negative affectivity and emotional dysregulation. Emotional dysregulation was significantly related to stimulation, habitual, and sensorimotor smoking motives and greater perceived barriers to quitting, whereas negative affectivity was only significantly related to smoking for relaxation. These findings uniquely add to a growing literature suggesting anxiety sensitivity is an important and unique cognitive factor for better understanding clinically-relevant psychological processes related to cigarette smoking.
Psychological factors associated with smoking and quitting: addiction map of Turkey study
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
Background: Smoking is the most important modifiable factor in increased morbidity and premature mortality. This study aims to examine the psychological factors associated with smoking and quitting in a broad, nationally representative sample. Participants and methods: The sample included a total of 24.494 adult individuals. Participants were divided into three groups as smokers, non-smokers, and "ex-smokers" who had stopped smoking since at least last one year. For the current smokers, cigarettes per day also noted. Brief Symptom Inventory, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Personal Well-Being Index Adult Form, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Scales were used. Results: 43.6% (n=10,672) of the participants were smokers; 5.7% (1386) were ex-smokers; 50.7% (n=12,414) were non-smokers. A higher number of daily smoked cigarettes was related to all subscales of Brief Symptom Inventory, TAS-Difficulty in Recognition of emotions, TAS-Difficulty in Expressing Emotions, Positive Affect Score, Negative Affect Score, Avoidance and Anxious Attachment scores (p<0.05). Externally oriented thinking is found to be significantly higher among ex-smokers than current smokers and non-smokers (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that smokers have more psychopathological characteristics in the psychometric evaluation, whereas ex-smokers are found to have similar scores to non-smokers. The higher percentage of externally oriented-thinking style in ex-smokers may suggest that this alexithymic characteristic can help the individual to deal with psychological addiction throughout quitting. On the other hand this result could also be related that stopping smoking leads to greater externally orientated thinking and other changes in psychological characteristics.
Psychological Distress and Health Related Quality of Life between Smokers and Non-Smokers
Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
The present research was conducted to explore the relationship between psychological distress and health related quality of life among direct smokers and second hand smokers. It was a correlation study in which cross-sectional research design was used. The total sample size was 200 which consist of hundred direct smokers and hundred second hand smokers. It was hypothesized that there is significant relationship between psychological distress and health related quality of life among direct smokers and secondhand smokers. It was also hypothesized that there is significant difference on psychological distress and health related quality of life between direct smokers and second hand smokers. Statistical Package of Social Sciences Version 20 (SPSS-20) was used to check these hypotheses. Results showed that there is significant negative relation between psychological distress and health related quality of life. Further, the results showed that there is significant difference on psychologi...
A comparison of the Autonomy over Tobacco Scale and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence
Addictive Behaviors, 2012
The Autonomy over Tobacco Scale (AUTOS) is a 12-item theory-based instrument used to measure tobacco dependence in smokers. It provides separate measures of three factors that make smoking cessation more difficult: withdrawal symptoms, psychological dependence, and cue-induced urges to use tobacco. We compared the internal reliability and concurrent validity of the AUTOS to those of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Adult current smokers (n = 422; 62% female; 86.8% white; mean age 33.3 years, SD = 13.7; 57% daily smokers) completed an anonymous web-based survey that included the AUTOS, the FTND and 11 smoking-related behavioral measures. Cronbach's α was .94 for the AUTOS and α > .75 for each of the 3 subscales; α = .73 for the FTND. The AUTOS and its subscales correlated with all measures of concurrent validity (r = .70 between AUTOS & FTND). The AUTOS correlated better than the FTND with the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist, the longest period of abstinence, latency to wanting, percentage of time a person smokes because of momentary need, pleasure from smoking, days smoked per month, and concern about deprivation. The measures showed similar correlations with the latencies to craving and needing. The FTND correlated better with the duration of smoking and cigarettes smoked per day. Based on these results and those from prior studies, we conclude that the AUTOS offers researchers a valid and highly reliable, theorybased measure that is more versatile in its applications than the FTND.
Psychological and behavioral traits in smokers and their relationship with nicotine dependence level
2010
Background: Although several studies have been performed to evaluate the personality differences amongst smokers with different dependency levels, they do not use constant criteria for patients selection. The inconsistencies between some of these ¿ndings suggest the need for using solid criteria such as the modi¿ed Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (mFTQ) score to evaluate the relation between personality traits and impulsivity differences and the severity of nicotine dependency. Materials and Methods: In this study, 22 heavily dependent, 37 lightly dependent and 30 non-smokers were recruited using the mFTQ score, a widely used test of nicotine dependence. All participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Cattle Anxiety Scale, Temperament, and Character Inventory and three other personality questionnaires intended to measure impulsivity: the Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale, Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire, and Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale. Participants also had to perform a behavioral choice task, the Delay Discounting Choice, which is designed to assess impulsivity. Results: Although heavily dependent smokers scored higher than non-smokers and lightly dependents on the Beck depression Inventory and most of the impulsivity subscales; lightly dependent smokers scored higher than non-smokers only on a few subscales of the impulsivity scores. Conclusions: The mFTQ scores correlated signi¿cantly with many scores of the impulsivity subscales. These results would be helpful to design more speci¿c questionnaires for the psychological assessment of smokers according to nicotine dependence level and to adopt more etiologic oriented treatment approaches in the future.
Addiction, 2010
Aims Measuring the strength of urges to smoke during a normal smoking day among smokers in a culture where smoking is restricted could provide a good measure of the severity of cigarette dependence. An important criterion for a measure of cigarette dependence is how well it predicts failure of attempts to stop smoking. This study compared ratings of Strength of Urges to Smoke (SUTS) with the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and its components, including the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI). Design A longitudinal study involving a household survey of a representative sample of adult smokers at baseline and 6-month follow-up by postal questionnaire. Setting England. Participants A total of 15 740 smokers aged 16 and over underwent the baseline interview; 2593 were followed-up 6 months later, of whom 513 reported having made a quit attempt following the baseline survey but at least 1 month prior to the follow-up. Measurements SUTS, FTND, HSI, cigarettes per day, time to first cigarette, age, social grade and gender were measured at baseline. Quit attempts since the baseline assessment and self-reported abstinence were measured at 6-month follow-up. Findings In logistic regressions, all dependence measures predicted success of subsequent quit attempts, but SUTS had the strongest association (beta for SUTS, FTND and HSI: 0.41: P < 0.001, 0.13: P = 0.005, and 0.19: P = 0.003, respectively). In multiple logistic regressions when SUTS was entered as a predictor of abstinence, together with other dependence measures, it remained as the only predictive dependence measure. Conclusions A simple rating of strength of urges on a normal smoking day appears to be a good predictor of at least short-term quit success in English smokers and as such may be a useful measure of cigarette addiction.