Schemata and smoking relapse

Abstract

Cognitive schemata were examined in a prospective study of smoking relapse. 100 recent ex-smokers rated the similarity of 44 high-risk situations according to how difficult it would be to avoid smoking in them, and these judgments were analyzed via individual differences multidimensional scaling. As a group, subjects seemed to use two dimensions when judging the similarity of high-risk situations. One, interpreted as a Negative Affect dimension, reflected the degree to which situations are either devoid of positive emotion or charged with negative emotion. The other, interpreted as a Social Factors dimension, reflected the extent to which situations depict social pressure versus relatively solitary activities. Individual differences in emphasis on these group dimensions were significantly associated with subsequent relapse. Similarity judgments of Lapsers had reflected greater emphasis on the Negative Affect dimension and lower emphasis on the Social Factors dimension than did the judgments of 12-month Continuous Abstainers. Results are consistent with prior research linking negative affect smoking to relapse. The long-term predictive validity of the schema measure lends support to the view that scaling procedures are useful for assessing relatively stable aspects of cognitive structure.