Five‐Year Prospective Study of Risk Factors for Daily Smoking in Adolescence Among Early Nonsmokers and Experimenters1

Grade 7 nonsmokers and experimenters (N= 4,165) were compared on a wide range of risk factors for future smoking derived from four prominent theories and whether these factors predicted daily smoking at Grade 12. Early experimenters scored consistently higher than did early nonsmokers on risk factors for future smoking. Common predictors of Grade 12 daily smoking for both groups included early exposure to an important adult who smokes, being young for one's cohort, and weak academic bonds. For Grade 7 non‐smokers, unique predictors of daily smoking included exposure to pro‐smoking social influences (cigarette offers, sibling who smokes), early binge drinking, and being female. Unique predictors for early experimenters were less sharply delineated, although certain family factors appeared to be more important for this group. African Americans and His‐panics were also less likely to progress from experimental to daily smoking. Results point to the importance of adapting prevention efforts to the special needs of early nonsmokers and experimenters.     

Smoking related to anxiety and depression in Greek medical staff

We assessed the relation of anxiety and depression to smoking behavior in a sample of 80 physicians and surgeons, using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. 27 doctors were nonsmokers, 14 were former smokers, and 39 were current smokers. Current smokers showed significantly higher Anxiety and Depression scores compared to nonsmokers and former smokers, while the latter presented significantly lower Anxiety scores than nonsmokers. In current smokers, the daily quota of cigarettes was not correlated with Anxiety or Depression scores. From our results we can hypothesize that, among medical staff, smoking behavior is more anxiety-related than depression-related. In conclusion, we believe that interventions such as stress management techniques could be effective in lessening Anxiety and diminishing the need for relief searched for in smoking.     

Pathways through adolescent smoking: a 7-year longitudinal grouping analysis.

This study examined longitudinal patterns of smoking among students (N = 852) followed from 6th through 12th grades using longitudinal grouping analysis. Six patterns (clusters) were identified: nonsmokers, quitters, experimenters, early escalators, late escalators, and continuous smokers. Baseline (6th-grade) differences in associated risk factors were examined. Growth curve modeling revealed meaningful intercluster differences in risk factor trends over the study period. In general, nonsmokers had the fewest baseline risk factors and slowest increase in risk factors, whereas continuous smokers had higher baseline and more rapidly increasing trends in risk factors. Results suggest that some clusters may respond to population-based antismoking interventions, whereas others (early escalators and continuous smokers) will probably require more focused interventions.     

Attentional bias affects change detection

Thirty smokers and 30 nonsmokers participated in aflicker study in which the role of attentional bias in change detection was examined. The participants observed picture pairs of everyday objects flicker on a computer screen until they detected the one object that had changed. In half of the pictures, a smoking-related object (e.g., a lighter) was included among smoking-unrelated objects (e.g., a spoon). Half of the smokers and half of the nonsmokers were aware of the experiment’s focus, and the other half were not. The smokers exhibited shorter detection latencies than did the nonsmokers when a smoking object changed and longer detection latencies when a nonsmoking object changed while a smoking object was present, and they exhibited detection latencies similar to those of the nonsmokers when smoking objects were not present. Interestingly, the nonsmokers displayed the same attentional bias as the smokers when they were aware of the experiment’s smoking focus, but they did not display any attentional bias when they were unaware. Thus, these findings provide evidence for long-term context-independent, as well as for short-term context-dependent, attentional bias.     

The Aura of Tobacco Smoke: Cigars and Cigarettes as Image Makers

Male and female college undergraduates evaluated the character traits of men and women who were seen smoking cigars, smoking cigarettes, or not smoking. The evaluated adults were about 10 years older than the students. Irrespective of the evaluated persons' gender, ratings of appeal were specific to the gender of the evaluator. Men and women agreed in their perception of cigarette smokers as being less appealing than nonsmokers. However, whereas men ascribed markedly less appeal to cigar smokers than to cigarette smokers, women perceived cigar smokers as being as appealing as nonsmokers. This pattern was observed for all positive aspects of appeal; the inverse pattern was apparent for all negative aspects of appeal. In contrast, men and women concurred in judging cigar smokers as being more confident and secure than either nonsmokers or cigarette smokers.     

Implicit alcohol and smoking associations among young adult heavy drinkers: Associations with smoking status and alcohol-cigarette co-use

Implicit memory associations may play a role in motivation to use alcohol and cigarettes, but the relationship between implicit associations and co-use of alcohol and cigarettes is currently unknown. This study provided an initial examination of alcohol and smoking implicit associations among young adult drinkers who were either nonsmokers or relatively light smokers (i.e., 10 or fewer cigarettes per day) as a function of smoking frequency and daily-level alcohol-cigarette co-use. Drinkers (n?=?129) completed alcohol-arousal and smoking-valence variants of the implicit association test as well as a daily-level assessment of past 90-day alcohol and cigarette use. Smokers were grouped according to whether they reported daily or nondaily smoking frequency. Results showed that although implicit alcohol-arousal associations did not differ between smokers and nonsmokers, stronger implicit alcohol-arousal associations were observed for nondaily smokers relative to daily smokers after controlling for drinking frequency. Further, implicit positive-smoking associations were stronger for smokers relative to nonsmokers. Within the subgroup of nondaily smokers, more frequent co-use of alcohol and cigarettes was associated with stronger implicit positive-smoking associations when controlling for total drinking and smoking frequency. The findings suggest that implicit alcohol and smoking associations may be linked with smoking patterns (daily vs. nondaily) and co-use of alcohol and cigarettes among young adult drinkers who are not heavy smokers, highlighting the need for more research on the role of implicit associations in the co-use of cigarettes and alcohol.     

Smoking and psychological health in relation to country of origin

In English-speaking, Western-Anglo countries, where smoking has become stigmatized in recent decades as a result of widespread anti-smoking campaigns, smokers commonly report poorer psychological health on average than nonsmokers do. This may be indirectly related to the strong pressures to quit in such countries, as poorer psychological health is associated with a reduced likelihood of quitting, thus leading to a selection bias for smokers with relatively poorer psychological health. In the present study, 147 smoker and nonsmoker participants either came from Western-Anglo countries where smoking has become stigmatized (Australia, Canada, USA) or countries in regions where smoking remains relatively more accepted (Asia, Latin America, Europe). Smokers and nonsmokers were assessed on a widely used self-report measure of anxiety, depression, and stress. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant interaction between smoker status (smoker, nonsmoker) and country of origin (Western-Anglo, other) on psychological health ratings, with univariate analysis showing a significant interaction on anxiety scores. Among those from Western-Anglo countries, smokers reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than nonsmokers did, whereas there was no difference in anxiety between smokers and nonsmokers from other countries. There was no difference in the number of cigarettes smoked per day between the samples of smokers, indicating very similar levels of nicotine intake in the two groups. The findings support the notion that a selection bias for smokers with relatively poorer psychological health is occurring in Western-Anglo countries.     

Electroencephalographic responses to photic stimulation in habitual smokers and nonsmokers.

Two studies are reported in which electroencephalograms (EEGs) of habitual cigarette smokers and of nonsmokers were taken before and after they were required to smoke a cigarette. The EEGs were scored for incidence of EEG "driving" responses to photic stimulation, an index that appears to reflect the balance between central adrenergic and cholinergic nervous systems. The findings suggest that smokers tend to have a central autonomic balance less in favor of adrenergic functioning than do nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking may alleviate a possible central adrenergic insufficiency of smokers. These findings suggest a solution to "Nesbitt's paradox," which has reference to the fact that while nicotine is a central adrenergic stimulant, smokers describe the effect of smoking in sedational terms (i.e., as relaxing or calming).     

Social Costs of Smoking: Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Hostile Behavior1

Male and female undergraduates interacted with a same-sex experimenter and a same-sex assistant of the experimenter. Either the experimenter or the assistant smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provoked by the experimenter and then smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provided by the experimenter and then provided with an opportunity to treat him or her in a hostile manner. Additionally, subjects were classified as smokers or nonsmokers and as supporting or opposing smoking in public places. Tobacco smoke was found to facilitate hostile behavior whether or not subjects were independently annoyed and whether or not it originated from the annoyer or a bystander. No sex differences were observed in this effect. Also, no appreciable difference was observed in the hostile behavior of smokers and nonsmokers. Persons opposed to public smoking reacted more strongly to the provocation than persons supportive of public smoking, but this effect was independent of the presence or absence of smoke.     

Effects of tobacco smoking on electroencephalographic, auditory evoked and event related potentials

After overnight abstinence, tobacco smokers smoked an average nicotine yield cigarette and nonsmokers sham smoked an unlit placebo cigarette. EEG alpha(1), delta, and theta frequency amplitudes decreased, whereas alpha(2) and beta frequency amplitude increased. Short, middle (EP) and long latency ERP were also studied in nonsmokers and smokers just after smoking, and after overnight abstinence from tobacco. Short latency potentials were unaffected by tobacco smoking or abstinence. Middle and long-latency potentials were reduced during abstinence and enhanced immediately after tobacco smoking. These findings indicate that compared to nonsmokers smokers have a higher arousal level after smoking than when partially abstinent. Evidence for both normalization from tobacco abstinence as well as stimulation was obtained.     

Smoking,personality, and imagery preference in Relation to spontaneous bilateral electrodermal activity

Effects of smoking on spontaneous bilateral skin conductance were studied as a consequence of interactions with set and setting. Bilateral skin conductance was recorded in six men and six women who smoked and an equal number of nonsmokers on two different days. On the first day, spontaneous electrodermal activity was recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which half the smokers smoked a cigarette. On the second day, one week later, spontaneous activity was again recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette. Nonsmokers did not smoke at any time. Following smoking there was a significant negative correlation between a preference for visual over nonvisual imagery and spontaneous skin conductance responsivity in the left as compared to the right hand. Correlations were significantly different in smokers and nonsmokers. Smokers showed significantly greater preferences for either visual or nonvisual imagery than nonsmokers. Nonresponding nonsmokers were higher on the psychoticism (P) scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) than responding nonsmokers. Smokers scored higher on P than nonsmokers. Interactions between personality, cognitive style, and the experimental situation, set, and setting were discussed in relation to the arousing effects of nicotine.     

Stigma and hostility towards pregnant smokers: Does individuating information reduce the effect?

Australia is at the forefront of tobacco control, yet 17% of Australian women smoke during pregnancy. Negative attitudes to smoking are intensified when the smoker is pregnant, consistent with a discourse that encourages surveillance of pregnant women. Such overt anti-smoking attitudes create a context which may make it difficult for pregnant smokers to seek assistance to stop. However, there is little evidence on the extent to which pregnant smokers are stigmatised by community members. We used vignettes to examine the degree of smoking-related stigma expressed by 595 Australian university students who rated a woman, described as a mother who was smoking or not, and pregnant or not. Further, we examined whether provision of individuating information reduced the degree of stigma. Mothers described as smokers were rated more negatively than those not, particularly if they were pregnant: smokers were perceived as unhealthy, and also as bad mothers. Provision of individuating information slightly reduced these effects. These findings support the view that smokers – particularly if pregnant – are subject to negative moral judgement. Our findings contribute to the ethical debate about stigma-inducing tobacco control efforts, and suggest that anti-smoking campaigns that contextualise smoking in pregnancy might reduce stigma and assist cessation.     

Social representations and intergroup conflicts: Who's smoking here?

We studied the influence of explicitating a social conflict between smokers and nonsmokers on the social representations held about tobacco. Two representations were found: a psychological' representation which was defined by psychological explanations of the causes of beginning to smoke, a characterization of smokers as psychologically disturbed, and negative feelings towards smokers; a second defensive representation which attributes smoking to social factors, and hold both a positive stereotype of smokers and positive feelings towards smokers. The percentage of smokers who adhere to the defensive representation increased significantly when the conflict was made salient. Non-smokers were not influenced by the explicitation of the social conflict. The structure of each representation was analyzed. It was found that in the psychological' representation the structuring element was the negative stereotype of smokers. By contrast, the structuring element in the defensive representation was identification with smokers. The implicatlons of this data for theories of both intergroup relations and social representations are discussed.     

A note on responses to ethyl alcohol before and after smoking1

Differential sensitivity was measured before and after smoking a cigarette by 10 smokers, using 10 nonsmokers as controls. Stimuli consisted of reagent grade ethanol in eight concentrations ranging from 4% to 12%. No significant differences were observed between smokers and nonsmokers or before vs after smoking, although slightly higher overall correct responses and correspondingly smaller jnds were obtained for the nonsmokers. No practice affects were noted among the control group between the first and second set of samples. The findings confirm previous results which had been recently questioned.     

Prevalence and predictors of transitions in smoking behavior among college students.

The prevalence of smoking among college students is surprisingly high and represents a significant public health issue. However, there are few longitudinal studies of smoking in this population. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of transitions in smoking behavior among a cohort of 548 college students. Over the course of 4 years, 87% of daily smokers and almost 50% of occasional smokers continued to smoke. Among nonsmokers, 11.5% began smoking occasionally and none became daily smokers. In general, predictors of smoking behavior change were significant only among baseline occasional smokers and included gender, smoking outcome expectancies, and affect regulation expectations. Peer and parental smoking, demographics, affect, stress, and alcohol use were generally not predictive of change. Tobacco control interventions targeted at college students are clearly warranted.     

A portable version of the go/no-go association task (GNAT)

The present article describes a portable version of the go/no-go association task (GNAT) that runs on Palm Pilot and Handspring personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. The PDA version of the GNAT was modeled after a portable version of the Implicit Association Test (Dabbs, Bassett, & Dyomina, 2003) and was designed to facilitate measurement of implicit social cognition in field settings and among difficult-to-reach populations. The PDA version of the GNAT was used to assess implicit attitudes about smoking among 11 smokers and 28 nonsmokers. Support for the validity of the PDA version of the GNAT was provided by findings that smokers showed less negative implicit attitudes toward smoking, as measured by the GNAT, than did nonsmokers and that these implicit attitudes were positively correlated with self-reported smoking attitudes among both groups.     

Oral contraceptive use and hemodynamic, lipid, and fibrinogen responses to smoking and stress in women.

The effects of acute smoking and oral contraceptive (OC) use on cardiovascular, lipid, and fibrinogen stress responses were examined in 52 female smokers and nonsmokers, half of whom were using OCs. Women smoked or sham-smoked a cigarette and then performed 2 stressful tasks. Stress elicited increases in total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and in triglycerides among women who smoked, and in fibrinogen among all women. Smokers who used OCs had greater blood pressure increases to smoking and to stress than did smokers who did not use OCs. OC use was also associated with enhanced total peripheral resistance stress responses among women who smoked and cardiac output stress responses among women who sham-smoked. Results suggest that OC use moderates cardiovascular reactivity in smokers but not nonsmokers, enhancing vascular responsivity to smoking combined with stress and myocardial responsivity to stress alone.     

The effect of smoking on brainstem auditory evoked potentials in positive- and negative-symptom schizophrenia

Studying brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) and comparing the specific waves in smokers vs nonsmokers in both positive- and negative-symptom schizophrenia may elucidate the role of smoking in information processing. BAEPs were recorded in 40 patients with schizophrenia; 20 had predominantly positive symptoms (10 smokers and 10 nonsmokers) and 20 had predominantly negative symptoms (10 smokers and 10 nonsmokers). The severity of positive and negative symptoms was assessed by scale of assessment of positive symptoms and scale of assessment of negative symptoms (SANS). The BAEP results were compared with 15 healthy control individuals matched with the patients by age, sex, and cultural background. The smokers with negative symptoms showed a significant increase in the alogia, summary, and composite scores of SANS as compared to the nonsmokers. Although, most of the BAEP abnormalities were among patients with positive symptoms. The effect of smoking on the BAEPs was only in patients with negative symptoms. We also studied the interaction between smoking factor (smokers vs nonsmokers) and group type (group with mostly positive symptoms vs group with mostly negative symptoms) on the BAEPs and found a significant difference only for the first-wave latency mainly on the right side (P=0.012). The absence of a significant effect of smoking on most of the parameters of the BAEPs on interaction with the group factor suggests that the effect of smoking on the BAEPs is more apparent when negative symptoms prevail. However, studies are warranted to substantiate this finding.     

Warning! The following packet contains shocking images: The impact of mortality salience on the effectiveness of graphic cigarette warning labels

This research looks at a recent initiative to encourage smokers to quit smoking and to discourage nonsmokers from starting to smoke. Evidence has shown that text‐based warning labels are ineffective in drawing attention to the dangers of tobacco consumption; therefore, some governments are looking to draw current smokers and potential smokers away from cigarettes by displaying graphic images of various smoking ailments. This research draws on Terror Management Theory as a means of understanding the effects of graphic visual images in cigarette packaging and offers implications for public health researchers, social marketers, and antismoking campaigners to help smokers to quit and reduce the likelihood of potential smokers becoming smokers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived Believability Among Adolescents of Health Warning Labels on Cigarette Packs1

This study investigated the extent to which adolescents believe the health warning labels on cigarette packs, and the relationship of current smoking status and gender to the believability ratings. Subjects were 691 students in grades 5 through 12. MANOVAs revealed that, smokers, both male and female, reported significantly less belief in the validity of 3 of the health warning labels than nonsmokers. These findings support prior investigations which indicate that adolescent smokers are less likely to accept the specific health risks associated with smoking than nonsmokers. The results, however, also raise the question as to what value such health warning labels have as a deterrent to cigarette smoking.