Smoking, psychological status and stress

Abstract

The effects of stress and psychological impairment on smoking behavior was analyzed using a final sample of 938 adults (18 years and over) in the metro New Haven area. Information regarding the following were obtained: basic sociodemographic variables physical and mental health status social and instrumental role performance and life crises during the previous year (crisis was any event which could potentially affect the persons sociopsychological balance). 4 hypotheses were tested: the direct relationship of psychological impairment to 1) frequency of smoking; 2) perception of smoking as a problem; 3) increases in smoking at times of crises; and 4) relation between changes in smoking and psychological impairment as the number of crises increased. All 4 hypotheses were confirmed by the findings. Psychologically impaired individuals resorted to smoking with increasing frequency depending on the psychological status quantity and quality of crises. The data regarding the perception of smoking as a problem revealed a paradox in that the psychologically impaired individuals (48%) were more realistic in viewing smoking as a problem compared with individuals who were psychologically healthy (11%). Studies have shown that psychological tension leads to smoking; again this was supported by the high frequency of smoking observed among individuals who were psychologically very impaired because of marital interpersonal health and catastrophic events (Sullivan; Summel). These findings suggest that smokers have trouble quitting the habit because of their relatively little or lack of control of external events which personally affect them.