Abstract
This study examined the role of social support and behavioral interventions used during the last unsuccessful quit attempt for smokers' intentions to quit smoking within the next 6 months, and identified smokers' attributes associated with use of social support and behavioral interventions. The analytic sample included 7,195 adult daily smokers who responded to the 2010-2011 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, conducted in the US, and indicated having a serious quit attempt in the past 12 months. Smokers who relied on social support from friends and family had higher odds of intending to quit than those who did not (OR= 1.39, 95% CI= 1.22:1.58), and smokers who used interventions had higher odds of intending to quit than those who did not (OR= 1.36, 95% CI= 1.07:1.74). These associations were similar for both sexes, all age groups, and nicotine dependence levels. Both, relying on social support and use of behavioral interventions were more common among smokers who were female, higher educated, residing in the Western US region, and those who used pharmacological aids for smoking cessation. Social support and behavioral interventions are associated with higher intentions to quit among attempters who relapsed and thus, may aid future smoking cessation.
Highlights
Social support plays a critical role in one’s psychological and physical well-being
We hypothesize that relying on social support and/or using behavioural interventions, even during a failed quit attempt, will help motivate smokers to improve their intentions to quit in the near future
Post-hoc comparisons of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic smokers, relative to the non-Hispanic White smokers, indicated that non-Hispanic Black smokers less commonly relied on social support than did nonHispanic White smokers, while Hispanic and non-Hispanic White smokers were similar in terms of the rates of relying on social support
Summary
Social support plays a critical role in one’s psychological and physical well-being. For example, interpersonal relationships can help an individual to deal with stress (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Villain, Sibon, Renou, Poli, & Swendsen, 2017), motivate behavioural changes, and help maintain new behaviours (Crookes et al, 2016; House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988; Sarkar, Taylor, Lai, Shegog, & Paxton, 2016; Villain et al, 2017). Because of the benefits that social support offers, smokers participating in behavioural interventions for smoking cessation are commonly advised to seek social support from friends and family outside of the program (Baker et al, 2011; Carlson, Goodey, Bennett, Taenzer, & Koopmans, 2002; Kviz, Crittenden, Clark, Madura, & Warnecke, 1994; Meijer et al, 2016; Murray, Johnston, Dolce, Lee, & O’Hara, 1995) These interventions aim to help smokers quit and prevent smoking relapse by providing recommendations for how to cope with psychosocial and/or physical difficulties associated with quitting smoking, such as nicotine withdrawal symptoms. The specific research goals were as follows: Goal 1: Identify smokers’ characteristics associated with relying on social support and behavioural interventions while trying to quit smoking
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