Relationship of psychosocial factors to smoking behavior change in an intervention program

Abstract

The relationship of stress and the “psychosocial assets” of adjustment, belief in personal control, and social support to the modification of smoking behavior was studied in a sample of 169 male smokers, aged 35 to 57, enrolled in a heart attack prevention program. Smokers were categorized as Continuing Successes, Recidivists, or Nonstoppers, depending on whether they stopped smoking and maintained cessation, stopped smoking and relapsed, or never stopped during the initial intervention phase. The participants were followed for 2 years. Variations in the following factors were used to significantly discriminate among the groups of smokers: stress, security, social support, number of cigarettes smoked at baseline and when smoking heaviest, and measures of belief in personal control. Discriminant function analysis demonstrated that the likelihood of being a Continuing Success is increased when there are, in combination (in decreasing order of importance): a high expectation of success; few cigarettes smoked upon entry into the program; low stress; ease of prior cessation attempts; a long period of prior abstinence; and a high degree of personal security. The results suggest that it is possible to predict which participants in a smoking control program will have problems with cessation and maintenance of cessation; and that smoking control programs can target intervention toward specific individual needs.