Abstract
Smoking is one of the leading causes of non-communicable disease mortality and morbidity. Smoking behaviour is determined by both stable, person-level (e.g., motivation, nicotine dependence) and variable, situation-level factors (e.g., urges, cues). However, most theoretical approaches to understanding health behaviours so far have not integrated these two spheres of influence. Temporal Self-Regulation Theory (TST) integrates these person-level and situation-level factors, but has not yet been comprehensively applied to predicting smoking behaviour. We use Ecological Momentary Assessment to examine the utility of TST in predicting daily smoking. 46 smokers reported individual and environmental cues right after smoking and at random time points during the day. Cognitions, self-control, past behaviour, and nicotine dependence were assessed at baseline. Multi-level logistic regressions show that smoking is largely guided by momentary cues, but individual motivation can buffer their influence. This suggests that TST is a useful integrative approach to understand modifiable determinants of smoking and thus intervention targets.
Highlights
With one billion smokers around the world and some eight million deaths per year, smoking remains one of the most significant preventable causes of morbidity and early mortality (Reitsma et al, 2017)
The effects of behavioural interventions to support smoking cessation remain small to medium in size at best (Lancaster & Stead, 2017; Mottillo et al, 2009)
We found no significant associations of intentions to quit, nicotine dependence strength, average cigarettes smoked per day, trait self-control, age, connectedness and value beliefs as well as expected temporal contingencies with random prompt-related compliance rates
Summary
With one billion smokers around the world and some eight million deaths per year, smoking remains one of the most significant preventable causes of morbidity and early mortality (Reitsma et al, 2017). Most theoretical approaches to understanding, predicting and modifying health-related behaviours such as smoking have focused on individual motivation as the proximal determinant of behaviour (e.g., intentions in the reasoned action approach RAA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2011) These socalled social-cognitive approaches suggest that intentions are the most proximal predictor of behaviour: Here, intentions are considered the focal motivational component, i.e., a construct that concentrates potentially different sources of motivation towards the engagement in behaviour. The momentary sphere describes the factors that influence behaviour directly or indirectly, here in particular by affecting the degree to which intentions can be translated into behaviour in a given moment These factors include behavioural prepotency, which integrates past behaviour (e.g. behavioural frequency or intensity, habit strength, dependence intensity), potential biological predispositions, and cues within the momentary environment (e.g. social cues, availability) or the individual herself (e.g. craving/ urges, affect). Despite the potential of including relevant clinical person-level variables such as nicotine dependence in the prediction, no previous study has applied TST to predicting smoking behaviour
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