Deposit contracts with smokers: Varying frequency and amount of repayments

Predictions concerning the effects of variations in the parameters of deposit contracts with smokers were derived from the operant conditioning literature. The predictions were tested by group comparison studies involving 83 subjects in 12 treatment groups, using three deposit procedures. As predicted, increasing the amount of money returned in each deposit repayment improved short term abstinence rates. Increasing repayment frequency had a similar but not quite significant effect. The predicted relationship between frequency and amount of repayments, with variations in frequency having more effect, was not found. There were no long term differences between groups. The usefulness of the operant framework was therefore partially demonstrated. Some clinical implications of the findings are discussed.