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A further investigation of the relations of anxiety sensitivity to smoking motives

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Abstract

Prior research has shown that anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with smoking to reduce negative affect (e.g., [Comeau, N., Stewart, S.H., & Loba, P., (2001). The relations of trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and sensation seeking to adolescents' motivations for alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Addictive Behaviors, 26, 803-825.]). However, given limitations in the measurement of smoking motives in previous AS studies, it has yet to be definitively established that AS is specifically related to negative reinforcement smoking motives. Moreover, the overall AS construct is comprised of three lower-order components: physical, psychological, and social concerns (e.g., [Stewart, S.H., Taylor, S., & Baker, J.M., (1997). Gender differences in dimensions of anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 179-200.]). Previous investigations generally have not examined the relative contributions of each of these three AS components to smoking for negative reinforcement motives. The present study attempted to address each of these gaps in the literature. A sample of 119 smokers attending a tobacco intervention program (see [Mullane, J.C., Stewart, S.H., Rhyno, E., Steeves, D., Watt, M., & Eisner, A., (2008). Anxiety sensitivity and difficulties with smoking cessation. In A.M. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in Psychological Research (vol. 54A, pp. 141-155). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.]) completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; [Peterson, R.A., & Reiss, S., (1992). The Anxiety Sensitivity Index manual (2nd ed.). Worthington, OH: International Diagnostic Services.]) and the Reasons For Smoking scale (RFS; [Ikard, F.F., Green, D.E., & Horn, D., (1969). A scale to differentiate between types of smoking as related to the management of affect. International Journal of the Addictions, 4, 649-659.]) at pre-treatment. In a principal components analysis (PCA) of the RFS items, stringent parallel analysis supported a two-factor solution (negative and positive reinforcement smoking motives) as opposed to the intended six factors ([Ikard, F.F., Green, D.E., & Horn, D., (1969). A scale to differentiate between types of smoking as related to the management of affect. International Journal of the Addictions, 4, 649-659.]). ASI total scores were significantly positively correlated with both RFS factors in bivariate correlational analyses. In partial correlations, the relation between the ASI and the RFS negative reinforcement factor remained significant when controlling for RFS positive reinforcement smoking motives, but the correlation of ASI with RFS positive reinforcement motives was not significant after controlling for RFS negative reinforcement motives. At the level of AS components, AS psychological concerns were related to both negative and positive reinforcement motives, while AS physical concerns were more strongly related to negative reinforcement motives. Implications for designing targeted tobacco interventions for high AS smokers are discussed.

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... [6,35,36] Yet, relatively few studies have examined smoking variables in relation to the three AS facets, and extant work shows that different facets of AS have different smoking-related correlates. AS physical and cognitive concerns have been consistently associated with greater negative reinforcement-related smoking motives and expectancies, [31,[37][38][39] whereas only one study has associated AS cognitive concerns with positive reinforcement-related smoking motives. [37] Although most studies have reported no relationship between AS facets and cigarette frequency or dependence severity, [31,38,39] one study reported that all three AS facets were associated with daily cigarette consumption. ...
... AS physical and cognitive concerns have been consistently associated with greater negative reinforcement-related smoking motives and expectancies, [31,[37][38][39] whereas only one study has associated AS cognitive concerns with positive reinforcement-related smoking motives. [37] Although most studies have reported no relationship between AS facets and cigarette frequency or dependence severity, [31,38,39] one study reported that all three AS facets were associated with daily cigarette consumption. [23] Then in a recent study of non-treatment-seeking smokers, [31] we found that AS physical and cognitive concerns were associated with more severe (retrospectively reported) problems during tobacco abstinence; all three AS components were associated with stronger negative reinforcement-related smoking outcome expectancies; only AS social concerns were associated with stronger positive reinforcementrelated smoking outcome expectancies; and none of the AS facets were associated with tobacco dependence severity or subtypes. ...
... Partially consistent with our first hypothesis, AS social concerns were associated with greater negative reinforcement-related smoking motives and expectancies, and AS cognitive concerns were associated with NA reduction smoking motives. Though AS cognitive concerns have been consistently associated with greater negative reinforcement-related smoking motives and expectancies in previous studies, [31,[37][38][39] most prior studies have not found a relation between AS social concerns and negative reinforcement-related smoking motives and expectancies. [37][38][39] However, we did find an association between AS social concerns and greater NA reduction smoking outcome expectancies in our recent prior study of non-treatment-seeking smokers. ...
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Anxiety sensitivity (AS)—fear of anxiety-related experiences—has been implicated in smoking motivation and maintenance. In a cross-sectional design, we examined AS facets (physical, cognitive, and social concerns) in relation to tobacco use, abstinence-related problems, and cognitions in 473 treatment-seeking smokers. After controlling for sex, race, age, educational attainment, hypertension status, and neuroticism, linear regression models indicated that AS physical and cognitive concerns were associated with tobacco dependence severity (β = .13–.14, p < .01), particularly the severity of persistent smoking regardless of context or time of day (β = .14–.17, p < .01). All three AS facets were related to more severe problems during past quit attempts (β = .23–.27, p < .001). AS cognitive and social concerns were related to negative affect reduction smoking motives (β = .14, p < .01), but only the social concerns aspect of AS was related to pleasurable relaxation smoking motives and positive and negative reinforcement-related smoking outcome expectancies (β = .14–.17, p < .01). These data suggest that AS physical and cognitive concerns are associated with negative reinforcement-related smoking variables (e.g., abstinence-related problems), whereas the social concerns aspect of AS is associated with positive and negative reinforcement-related smoking variables. Together with past findings, current findings can usefully guide AS-oriented smoking cessation treatment development and refinement.
... In addition, combined models indicated that ASI Mental Concerns is associated with greater difficulty maintaining abstinence and stronger expectations of smoking-related negative reinforcement and withdrawal incrementally to other ASI subscales. These data, consistent with past work, [17,33,34] suggest that smokers high in ASI Mental Concerns may be especially prone to continue smoking as a form of negative reinforcement. Yet, these results are inconsistent with past research indicating that only ASI Physical Concerns is related to shorter abstinence duration incrementally to other ASI subscales. ...
... These findings are in contrast to two prior studies that reported no relation between ASI Social Concerns and positive or negative reinforcement smoking motives or expectancies. [17,33] Notably, however, those two prior studies used smaller, largely White samples (N = 90-119). Regarding SCQ Positive Reinforcement, it is worth noting that two items reference smoking-related social interaction, and it makes sense that obtaining sensory satisfaction from smoking would lend itself to socialization. ...
... The association between ASI Physical Concerns and negative reinforcement smoking expectancies is consistent with past research. [17,33,34] This is the first study to report a relationship between ASI Physical Concerns and severity of tobacco withdrawal symptoms, which is consistent with the notion that smokers high in ASI Physical Concerns may be especially affected by withdrawal-related bodily sensations. [13,18] Surprisingly though, ASI Physical Concerns was not related to tobacco withdrawal symptom severity or negative reinforcement smoking expectancies incrementally to other ASI subscales, which may reflect that tobacco-related negative reinforcement and withdrawal symptoms are primarily tied to negative affective (emotional) states. ...
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Introduction: Anxiety sensitivity (AS)-the tendency to fear anxiety-related experiences-is a risk factor for anxiety disorders and may contribute to smoking motivation and maintenance. Few studies have examined the relations between conceptually distinct components of AS and smoking behavior. The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between AS components-physical concerns, mental concerns, and social concerns-and an array of smoking-related characteristics. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, we administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and self-report measures of tobacco dependence, smoking abstinence behavior, and smoking outcome and abstinence expectancies to 314 smokers (≥ 10 cigarettes/day, 32% female, M age=44 years). Results: The ASI Mental Concerns subscale was most clearly associated with greater difficulty maintaining abstinence and stronger expectations of smoking-related negative reinforcement and withdrawal (βs=.21-.31, ps ≤ .005); the ASI Social Concerns was most clearly associated with stronger positive reinforcement smoking expectancies (β=.20, p=.0009); and ASI Physical Concerns subscale was most clearly associated with stronger tobacco withdrawal symptoms experienced in prior quit attempts (β=.20, p=.002). Conclusions: Based on these findings of patterns of associations with smoking-related characteristics across distinct components of AS, we speculate that (1) mindfulness training may be useful for treating tobacco addiction in smokers high in AS mental concerns, and (2) smokers high in AS physical and social concerns may benefit from smoking cessation treatment that incorporates interoceptive exposure and cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety, respectively.
... Bieliková et al., 2019; Gajdošová, & Orosová, 2011). Konštrukt pravidelného fajčenia je definovaný prostredníctvom dennej frekvencie i v rámci Smoking History Questionnaire (inBattista et al., 2008;Brown et al., 2002; Gonzales et al., 2009; Gregor, et al., 2007, a i.), ktorý zahŕňa okrem počtu cigariet za deň, aj informácie o období zahájenia pravidelného denného fajčenia, aj napr. vek prvej skúsenosti s fajčením, ktorú v našej štúdií nazývame experimentovaním. ...
... Prepojenie osobnostných a motivačných faktorov je tesné a v literatúre nájdeme aj komplexnejšie dotazníky integrujúce obe štruktúry (napr. STAR podľaGilbert et al., 2000) alebo je pozornosť zameraná na ich prepojenie a či spoločné pôsobenie na tabakové správanie(Battista et al., 2008;Bilsky et al., 2016; Gonzales et al., 2007;Niezabitowska et al., 2022; Spielberger & Reheiser, 2006 a i.).Ďalším bodom diskusie je ponechanie SMF Rodina pri experimentovaní nakoľko prvá skúsenosť v rodinnom prostrední nie je pri fajčení obvyklá, než je to pri skúsenosti s alkoholom. Pre podporu rozhodnutia dopĺňame, že 65 % respondentov odpovedalo v tomto SMF minimom hodnôt, z čoho je možné odvodiť, že u nich skúsenosť s fajčením súvisela s externým, nie rodinným prostredím. ...
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Problem and objective: The use of tobacco products by youths is social and health problem, while a current trend of the spread of other products besides cigarettes is registered, which appear to be less dangerous, but the opposite is true. Practice points out that group interventions do not have demonstrable effectiveness, and it is necessary to focus attention on situational multifactorial research. The paper aims to present the original Questionnaire on situational-motivational factors (SMF) of tobacco behavior (smoking), and the results of the pilot verification of its reliability and factor structure. It is a modified version of the questionnaire for SMF created for alcohol behavior (Rojková, Vavrová, 2017).
... 9,11 Research also indicates that AS is related to smoking behavior. For example, AS is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect, 12 smoking will reduce negative affect, 14 negative urgency and smoking expectancies, 15 smoking inflexibly in response to negative affect states, 16 as well as increased expectations for adverse emotional distress during smoking deprivation. 17 Higher levels of AS also have been predictive of greater increase in positive affect, 18 and are associated with reductions in subjective anxiety during stressful situations 19,20 after cigarette smoking. ...
... Although smoking variability has not previously been directly examined, there are data that suggest smokers are more likely to report relying on smoking to manage negative affect rather than prevent it. [12][13][14] If true, we would expect high AS smokers to smoke more variably. More variable smoking, in turn, could lead to greater more difficulty in smoking cessation. ...
Article
Objectives: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with poor smoking cessation outcomes. One reason may be that smokers with high AS smoke differently (i.e., to manage negative affect and uncomfortable bodily sensations) than other smokers, leading to stronger addiction (due to an affect/sensation based and thereby highly variable rather than a regular smoking routine). Thus, we examined the relationship between AS and smoking variability in a group of treatment-seeking smokers. Methods: Participants (N = 136; 52.2% female; Mage = 44.19 years, SD = 11.29) were daily smokers with elevated AS (AS?20 on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index 16-item at prescreen) recruited as part of a larger randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation. Most participants were Caucasian (73%), educated (with 76% attending some college), unmarried (73%), and employed full-time (56%). They smoked, on average, 17 cigarettes per day. Results: Consistent with prediction, a regression analysis of baseline assessments and a longitudinal analysis with multilevel modeling (MLM) both showed higher AS was associated with greater variability in cigarettes smoked per day while controlling for gender, age, ethnicity, and income. Conclusions: This finding encourages investigation of how AS might interact with clinical strategies using a fixed smoking taper as part of quit attempts.
... A study by Gregor et al. (2007) confirms a predictive relationship between the motivation to smoke to reduce negative affect and the presence of anxiety and depression symptoms in young adult daily smokers. Smokers with high levels of the anxiety sensitivity personality trait, especially those with psychological concerns about the consequences of anxiety, are motivated to smoke to relieve aversive states or to achieve pleasurable states (Battista et al., 2008). Anxiety sensitivity is the relationship between fear of anxious emotions and the beliefs that the consequences of these emotions could be harmful (Battista et al., 2008). ...
... Smokers with high levels of the anxiety sensitivity personality trait, especially those with psychological concerns about the consequences of anxiety, are motivated to smoke to relieve aversive states or to achieve pleasurable states (Battista et al., 2008). Anxiety sensitivity is the relationship between fear of anxious emotions and the beliefs that the consequences of these emotions could be harmful (Battista et al., 2008). Tension reduction is an influential motive for smoking among college students (Fiala et al., 2010). ...
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In this article we analyse attitudes about smoking and motivations to smoke among college students in the USA and Poland. To provide the context for this discussion we first discuss historical changes in the economic, business, and legal environments in both countries since World War II. We follow with an empirical test of attitudes towards smoking and motivations to smoke using a survey distributed to 192 undergraduate students in the two countries. The results show that in both countries young people view smoking more negatively now than they did in the past, probably in response to the changing macro-environment. Overall motivations to smoke among young consumers in these two countries are similar, but differences exist and are explored in this study.
... In a study of smokers attending a tobacco cessation program, in a project with my former graduate students Susan Battista and Heather Fulton, we examined links of AS with motives for smoking when program participants were assessed at pretreatment baseline (Battista et al., 2008). Participants completed the original ASI (Peterson & Reiss, 1992) as well as the Reasons for Smoking Test (RFS; Ikard et al., 1969). ...
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Le présent article résume notre programme de recherche sur la sensibilité à l’anxiété (SA) – un facteur dispositionnel cognitif et affectif impliquant des craintes de sensations liées à l’anxiété en raison de croyances selon lesquelles ces sensations entraînent des conséquences catastrophiques. La SA et ses dimensions d’ordre inférieur sont considérées comme des facteurs transdiagnostiques de risque ou de maintien des troubles émotionnels et des troubles addictifs. La compréhension des mécanismes par lesquels la SA exerce ses effets peut révéler des cibles d’intervention clés pour les programmes de prévention et de traitement axés sur la SA. Dans le présent article, je passe en revue les recherches fondamentales que nous avons menées pour comprendre les mécanismes qui relient la SA à ces troubles et à leurs symptômes. Je décris également les interventions transdiagnostiques ciblées sur la SA et j’illustre la manière dont la recherche fondamentale a permis d’orienter le contenu de ces interventions. Enfin, je passe en revue les projets en cours dans mon laboratoire et je souligne les orientations futures importantes dans ce domaine. Bien que des progrès considérables aient été réalisés au cours des trois dernières décennies et que la recherche ait considérablement fait avancer notre compréhension de la SA en tant que facteur transdiagnostique, de nombreuses questions restent en suspens. Les réponses devraient nous aider à affiner les interventions afin d’en faire bénéficier au maximum les personnes qui ont une grande peur d’avoir peur.
... Moreover, smoking cigarettes has negative influence on muscle metabolism (17) . EMS is a stressful job; a study reported that there is a link between smoking cigarettes and anxiety (18) , and some individual smoke to reduce the negative effects (19) . Most of the participants were overweight (41.4%), the obesity was (19.2%) and only (36.1%) fall within normal weight. ...
... Additionally, some studies have also showed that caffeine may increase cortisol production and delay its deactivation in the body (Gavrieli et al., 2011;Lovallo et al., 2005). The results for nicotine were somewhat surprising considering nicotine consumption has been shown to serve as a coping strategy by smokers experiencing stress (Battista et al., 2008;Canals et al., 1997). However, the reasons behind why individuals smoke is complex (e.g., habit, addiction, peer pressure, stimulation), and use as a coping mechanism may not be driving the overall behaviors in this study population. ...
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Stress is oftentimes overlooked in societies, despite its life-threatening impact. Here, we assessed the feasibility of measuring endogenous stress hormones to estimate population-level stress by wastewater-based epidemiology. Two primary glucocorticoids, cortisol and cortisone, were monitored in wastewater by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), to assess changes in these physiological markers of stress in a student population (n = 26,000 ± 7100) on a university campus in the southwestern U.S. Daily composite samples were collected for seven consecutive days each month during the Fall (Autumn) 2017 and Spring 2018 academic semesters (n = 134). Reproducible weekly patterns were seen in stress hormone excretion, with the highest levels occurring on Mondays (124 ± 44 μg d⁻¹ per person) and Tuesdays (127 ± 54 μg d⁻¹ per person) and the lowest on Sundays (87 ± 32 μg d⁻¹ per person). Stress levels on weekdays (defined by class schedules Monday-Thursday) were significantly higher than on weekends (p < 0.05). During both Fall and Spring semesters, per person stress levels of these hormones were significantly higher (p < 0.05) during the first two months of each semester, 162 ± 28 μg d⁻¹ per person (August), 104 ± 29 μg d⁻¹ per person (September), 180 ± 14 μg d⁻¹ per person (January), and 114 ± 54 μg d⁻¹ per person (February) than in the remaining measured weeks in the semester, including finals week captured in both semesters. Overall Spring semester stress levels (113 ± 45 μg d⁻¹ per person) were significantly higher than the Fall (94 ± 42 μg d⁻¹ per person), p < 0.01. These results suggest that endogenous biomarkers such as glucocorticoids may be used to monitor community health by wastewater assessments.
... AS, the fear of anxiety or anxiety-related symptoms (Taylor et al., 2007), is a transdiagnostic, relatively stable mechanism that predisposes individuals to the development of anxiety and depressive problems (Taylor, 1999) by amplifying negative mood states (e.g., anxiety; Reiss, 1991;Zinbarg et al., 1997). AS has been documented in smoking maintenance and relapse processes , including smoking motives (i.e., reasons for use; , expectancies (i.e., beliefs about the positive and negative consequences or effects of smoking; Battista et al., 2008;Gregor et al., 2008;, and perceived barriers to cessation (Langdon et al., 2016;Zvolensky et al., 2007). Additionally, AS is related to the tendency to smoke when confronted with smoking-relevant thoughts, feelings, and sensations (e.g., bodily tension; , and experiencing more severe side effects when using nicotine replacement therapy (Zvolensky et al., 2017). ...
Article
Background Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disability globally. Most smokers want to quit, and most make a serious quit attempt each year. Nevertheless, more than 95% of cessation attempters relapse within six months. Thus, alternative interventions are needed to combat this major public health concern. Objective: The current study was conducted to develop and test a smoking treatment among 95 (63.2% male; Mage = 46.20 years, SD = 10.90) adult daily cigarette smokers that targets a known risk factor for smoking maintenance and relapse: anxiety sensitivity (AS). Methods: The current study employed a randomized controlled trial design to test an integrated, brief, computer-delivered smoking and AS intervention among current, daily smokers. Participants completed four appointments: (a) phone-screener; (b) baseline (pre-intervention assessment, intervention [personalized feedback intervention (PFI) versus smoking information control], and post-intervention assessment); (c) 2-week follow-up; and (d) 4-week follow-up. Results: Participants indicated highly positive evaluations of both the PFI and control intervention. Between the baseline and 2-week follow-up, 44.2% [PFI: 46.9% (n = 23); control: 41.3% (n = 19)] of participants reported a quit attempt. At the 4-week follow-up, 49.5% [PFI: 57.1% (n = 28); control: 41.3% (n = 19)] of participants reported a quit attempt since their previous laboratory session. Conclusion: Within the context of an intervention development approach, the present investigation provides descriptive data on the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a single-session, computer-delivered, AS/smoking PFI.
... 9 In the general population, smoking intervention success is predicted by depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, biological sex (women), and nicotine dependence. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Success is hampered by additional factors in low SES populations: [19][20][21] they have lower quit rates than the general population, even when utilizing evidence-based programs. [22][23][24][25][26][27] Determinants of these disparities are greater life stress, depression, lack of skills training and support, and access barriers. ...
Article
Background: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the US and smoking rates are high in low-income populations (28% vs. 17% of those living above the poverty line).1,2 Consequently, low-income groups have elevated tobacco-related disease risk exacerbating health disparities.3,4 Mindfulness has been associated with positive effects on psychosocial, physical and mental health outcomes, which has increased interest in using mindfulness as an adjunctive treatment for smoking cessation and relapse prevention.5,6 However, research on mindfulness in relation to such factors in underserved populations is lacking. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this research is to investigate the psychometric qualities and correlates of the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS-R)7 in a sample of low-income, mostly minority women who smoke cigarettes. It is hypothesized that the CAMS-R will be reliable, and mindfulness will be associated with known barriers to cessation. Methods: Secondary analysis of self-report data from 12-month follow-up in a large, randomized smoking cessation trial, Babies Living Safe and Smokefree,8 was used to explore mindfulness and its relationship to known cessation barriers and facilitators. Temple University IRB approval was received before data collection. CAMS-R items were summed to create a composite score. Results: The sample of women (N=187) was mostly (72%) African American, average age was 30 years old, ~28% had less than a high school degree/GED and on average smoked ~9 cigarettes/day. The CAMS-R was reliable (α=.74). Zero-order correlations showed higher mindfulness was significantly correlated with greater social support (p < .01). Higher mindfulness was significantly correlated with lower depressive symptoms, social constraints, household chaos, sleep disturbances, childhood trauma, life stressors, and chronic mental, and physical health conditions (p's < .01 except physical health p < .05). Conclusions/Relevance: The sample had higher CAMS-R scores compared to central tendency scores in broader populations. The high scores may indicate an amenable characteristic of mindfulness that could be trained for interventions. Yet, more research is needed on feasibility/acceptability in this population. Higher mindfulness is inversely related to many negative health and psychosocial factors which are known barriers to cessation, as well as positively related to social support, an important facilitator of cessation. The interplay between social support and mindfulness should be explored, as each is theorized as a “stress buffer.” research should investigate psychosocial factors as potential mediators in mindfulness interventions for smoking cessation targeting vulnerable female smokers.
... A variety of tobacco smoking motives have also been positively associated with anxiety sensitivity, including smoking for addictive (e.g., to satisfy a craving) and habitual/automatic (e.g., smoking without remembering putting a cigarette in one's mouth) reasons Tiffany and Carter 1998), and the self-administration of tobacco for positive or negative reinforcement (e.g., Battista et al. 2008). Individuals who smoke tobacco and score high on measures of anxiety sensitivity have also been shown to endorse a greater number of perceived barriers to quitting smoking , and they tend to hold stronger beliefs that cigarette smoking can ameliorate negative affect (e.g., Johnson et al. 2008Johnson et al. , 2013Zvolensky et al. 2004). ...
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Despite the notable prevalence and comorbidity of tobacco cigarette dependence and chronic pain, relatively little is known about potential mechanisms of action. Research has emphasized the utility of identifying core underlying dimensions that reflect shared etiological processes, and it has been posited that anxiety-relevant transdiagnostic factors may be particularly important to understanding pain-smoking comorbidity. This review examined the empirical literature linking pain-related fear (fear of pain and activities that elicit pain), pain-related anxiety (anxious responses to pain), and anxiety sensitivity (degree to which the experience of anxiety is expected to have deleterious consequences) to both chronic pain and tobacco cigarette smoking. We then integrated this literature to inform a conceptual model explicating the function of anxiety-relevant transdiagnostic factors in pain-tobacco smoking comorbidity. Finally, we drew upon this conceptual model to highlight novel clinical implications and inform future research.
... For example, prior work has found that smokers higher in AS are more motivated to use cigarettes to relieve negative affect, and to a lesser extent, because of the addictive and habitual properties . Smokers higher in AS also expect reduced negative affect as a direct consequence of smoking (Battista et al., 2008;Farris, Leventhal, Schmidt, & Zvolensky, 2015;Gonzalez, Zvolensky, Vujanovic, Leyro, & Marshall, 2008;Gregor, Zvolensky, McLeish, Bernstein, & Morissette, 2008;Johnson, Farris, Schmidt, & Zvolensky, 2012;Leyro, Zvolensky, Vujanovic, & Bernstein, 2008). These subjective motives and expectations may be linked to actual smoking effects, as high AS smokers report greater smoking-induced reductions in subjective anxiety after stressful laboratory situations (Evatt & Kassel, 2010;Perkins, Karelitz, Giedgowd, Conklin, & Sayette, 2010) and more positive subjective benefits after smoking (Wong et al., 2013). ...
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Objective: Scientific evidence implicates anxiety sensitivity (AS) as a risk factor for poor smoking cessation outcomes. Integrated smoking cessation programs that target AS may lead to improved smoking cessation outcomes, potentially through AS reduction. Yet, little work has evaluated the efficacy of integrated smoking cessation treatment on smoking abstinence. The present study prospectively examined treatment effects of a novel AS reduction-smoking cessation intervention relative to a standard smoking cessation intervention on smoking abstinence. Method: Participants (N = 529; 45.9% male; Mage = 38.23, SD = 13.56) included treatment-seeking smokers who received either a 4-session integrated anxiety-reduction and smoking cessation intervention (Smoking Treatment and Anxiety Management Program; [STAMP]) or a 4-session standard smoking cessation program (SCP). The primary aims focused on examining the effects of STAMP on (a) AS reduction during treatment, (b) early and late smoking point prevalence abstinence, and (c) the mechanistic function of AS reduction on treatment effects across early and late smoking abstinence. Results: Results indicated a significantly greater decline in AS in STAMP relative to SCP (B = -.72, p < .001). Treatment condition did not significantly directly predict early or late abstinence. However, the effect of STAMP on early abstinence was significantly mediated by reductions in AS (indirect = .16, 95% CI [.02, .40]). Conclusions: Findings provide evidence for the efficacy of a novel, integrated anxiety and smoking cessation treatment to reduce AS. Moreover, the meditation pathway from STAMP to early abstinence through reductions in AS suggest that AS is a clinically important mechanism of change for smoking cessation treatment and research. (PsycINFO Database Record
... These emotionally vulnerable smokers perceive quitting as more difficult (Johnson, Farris, Schmidt, Smits, & Zvolensky, 2013), experience more severe withdrawal during the early phases of quitting (Johnson, Stewart, Rosenfield, Steeves, & Zvolensky, 2012;Perkins, Karelitz, Giedgowd, Conklin, & Sayette, 2010), and experience greater psychological inflexibility when confronted with stressful situations (Zvolensky, Farris, Schmidt, & Smits, 2014). AS is related to coping-oriented smoking (Battista et al., 2008;Guillot, Pang, & Leventhal, 2014), beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect (Johnson et al., 2013), and increased positive affect after smoking (Wong et al., 2013). Furthermore, AS statistically accounts for the relation of emotional disorders with tobacco dependence, perceived barriers to cessation, and severity of problematic symptoms while quitting (Zvolensky, Bogiaizian, Salazar, Farris, & Bakhshaie, 2014). ...
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Objective: Research shows that high anxiety sensitivity (AS) and dysphoria are related to poor smoking cessation outcomes. Engaging in exercise may contribute to improvement in smoking cessation outcomes through reductions in AS and dysphoria. In the current study, we examined whether exercise can aid smoking cessation through reductions in AS and dysphoria. Method: Participants were sedentary and low activity adult daily smokers (N = 136) with elevated AS who participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing smoking cessation treatment (ST) plus an exercise intervention (ST + EX) to ST plus wellness education (ST + CTRL). Self-reported smoking status was assessed in-person weekly from baseline through week 16 (end of-treatment; EOT), at week 22 (4 months postquit day), and at week 30 (6 months postquit day), and verified biochemically. Results: Results indicated that both AS and dysphoria at 6-month follow-up were significantly lower in the ST + EX group compared to the ST + CTRL group (controlling for baseline levels). Moreover, reductions in AS and dysphoria emerged as independent mechanisms of action explaining success in quitting. Conclusions: These novel findings offer clinically significant evidence suggesting that vigorous-intensity exercise can effectively engage affective constructs in the context of smoking cessation. (PsycINFO Database Record
... Additionally, the positive effects mainly pertain to positive reinforcement (e.g., pleasant/happy, energetic) with only one negative reinforcement item (i.e., relaxed). Studies in adolescent and adult samples report positive associations between AS and coping motives and outcome expectancies for alcohol (Novak, Burgess, Clark, Zvolensky, & Brown, 2003), cigarettes (Battista, et al., 2008), and cannabis (Zvolensky, et al., 2009). Thus, more associations between emotional dysfunction and positive subjective effects may have been found with a measure that included more negative reinforcement related positive effects. ...
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Maladaptive emotional traits (anxiety sensitivity [AS], fear of anxiety-related sensations and consequences) and symptoms (major depressive disorder [MDD] and generalized anxiety disorder [GAD] symptoms) could play a role in altering sensitivity to the subjective effects of drugs of abuse in adolescents. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of high school students in Los Angeles, CA, USA who completed surveys and reported past six-month use of alcohol (n = 1054), cigarettes (n = 297), or cannabis (n = 706). At each of the four semi-annual waves during mid-adolescence (14–16 years old), students reported positive and negative subjective drug effects experienced in the prior six-months. Controlling for covariates and the simultaneous covariance across the three domains of emotional dysfunction, AS was associated with more positive and negative cannabis effects (βs = 0.09–0.16, ps < 0.05), and MDD symptoms were associated with fewer negative cigarette effects (β = − 0.13, p = 0.04) and more negative cannabis effects (β = 0.10, p = 0.004). The acceleration of positive alcohol and cannabis effects over time was slower among adolescents with higher baseline MDD (MDD × time: β = − 0.04, p = 0.044) and GAD (GAD × time: β = − 0.05, p = 0.03) symptoms, respectively. These findings suggest that emotional dysfunction factors show differential and overlapping effects on subjective drug effects, which may vary across time. Future research should investigate emotional dysfunctions and subjective drug effects in relation to substance use across adolescence and emerging adulthood.
... The current study is designed to provide a test of this perspective, that adolescent smokers who are high in AS will evidence elevated anxious reactivity in the context of interoceptive arousal and, in turn, be more likely to report smoking to cope, and further that these processes would differ as a function of sex. Specifically, drawing from prior work with adults (e.g., Battista et al., 2008 ;Zvolensky et al., 2006 ) the study was designed to address the hypothesis that, among adolescent cigarette smokers, there would be significant indirect effects of self-reported anxiety (SR-A) following a voluntary hyperventilation procedure (VH) on the relation between the mental and physical factors of AS and coping motives for cigarette smoking. Given a lack of evidence for a relation between AS social concerns and VH responding (e.g., Leen-Feldner et al., 2005 ), this association was not expected to be significant. ...
Article
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Evidence suggests that smoking to cope among adolescents is associated with a number of problematic outcomes (e.g., greater smoking frequency, higher rates of dependence). It is thus imperative to better understand factors that may increase the likelihood of smoking to cope among adolescents. Research suggests anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with smoking to cope among adults, although the link between AS and coping motives for cigarette use among youth is less clear. Gender differences have also been noted in AS. The current study investigates this association using a biological challenge paradigm. Specifically, the indirect effects of anxious reactivity to bodily arousal on the relation between the physical and mental AS factors and coping motives for cigarette smoking were examined within a sample of 108 adolescent cigarette smokers. Gender was examined as a moderator. Results suggested significant indirect effects of self-reported anxiety in response to bodily arousal on the relation between physical AS and coping motives for cigarette smoking. This indirect effect was moderated by gender, such that it was significant for females but not males. Models examining AS mental concerns and psychophysiological responding to the challenge were not significant. These results suggest that, relative to their low AS counterparts, female adolescents high in physical concerns respond with elevated anxiety in response to interoceptive arousal and, in turn, endorse elevated coping-related smoking motives. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for understanding the nature and origins of coping-related smoking motives and how such information can be used to inform intervention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record
... 4 There is strong evidence for the role of AS in the maintenance of smoking and smoking cessation failure. Specifically, AS is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect 5 and beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect. 6 Importantly, high AS is related to greater odds of early smoking lapse and relapse during quit attempts. ...
Article
Introduction: Anxiety sensitivity, defined as the extent to which individuals believe anxiety and internal sensations have harmful consequences, is associated with the maintenance and relapse of smoking. Yet, little is known about how anxiety sensitivity interplays with negative affect during the quit process in terms of smoking behavior. To address this gap, the current study examined the dynamic interplay between anxiety sensitivity, negative affect, and smoking lapse behavior during the course of a self-guided (unaided) quit attempt. Methods: Fifty-four participants (33.3% female; Mage = 34.6, SD = 13.8) completed ecological momentary assessment procedures, reporting on negative affect and smoking status via a handheld computer device, three times per day for the initial 14 days of the self-guided cessation attempt. Results: As expected, a significant interaction was observed, such that participants characterized by high levels of anxiety sensitivity were at a higher risk of smoking on days when negative affect was high (relative to low). Results also revealed a significant interaction between anxiety sensitivity and daily smoking lapse behavior in terms of daily change in negative affect. Participants characterized by high levels of anxiety sensitivity reported significant increases in same-day negative affect on days when they endorsed smoking relative to days they endorsed abstinence. Conclusions: This study provides novel information about the nature of anxiety sensitivity, negative affect, and smoking behavior during a quit attempt. Results suggests there is a need for specialized intervention strategies to enhance smoking outcome among this high-risk group that will meet their unique 'affective needs.'
... There is strong evidence for the role of high anxiety sensitivity in the maintenance of smoking and in smoking cessation failure. Specifically, anxiety sensitivity is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect (5) and beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect (6). Similarly, higher levels of anxiety sensitivity are associated with increases in positive affect after smoking (7), and smoking reduces anxiety in high anxiety sensitivity smokers who smoked during stress exposure (8). ...
Article
Objectives: High anxiety sensitivity predicts poor smoking cessation outcomes. Aerobic exercise reduces anxiety sensitivity and aspects of the risk conferred by anxiety sensitivity. In the current study, we examined whether exercise can aid smoking cessation in adults with high anxiety sensitivity. Methods: Participants were sedentary and low-activity adult daily smokers (n = 136) with elevated prescreen anxiety sensitivity. Participants received 15 weeks of standard smoking cessation treatment (ST; cognitive behavioral therapy plus nicotine replacement therapy). In addition, participants were simultaneously randomized to 15 weeks of either an exercise intervention (ST + EX; n = 72) or a wellness education control condition (ST + CTRL; n = 64). Self-reported smoking abstinence was assessed weekly during the intervention, at the end of treatment (10 weeks after the target quit date), and at 4 and 6 months after the target quit date. Abstinence was verified by expired carbon monoxide readings and saliva cotinine. Results: Results indicated that point prevalence abstinence (PPA) and prolonged abstinence (PA) rates were significantly higher for ST + EX than for ST + CTRL at each of the major end points among persons with high anxiety sensitivity (PPA: b = -0.91, standard error [SE] = 0.393, t(1171) = -2.33, p = .020; PA: b = -0.98, SE = 0.346, t(132) = -2.84, p = .005), but not among those with low anxiety sensitivity (PPA: b = -0.23, SE = 0.218, t(1171) = -1.06, p = .29; PA: b = -0.31, SE = 0.306, t(132) = -1.01, p = .32). Conclusions: The present results suggest that exercise facilitates the odds of quit success for smokers with high levels of anxiety sensitivity and therefore may be a useful therapeutic tactic for this high-risk segment of the smoking population. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01065506. Copyright (C) 2015 by American Psychosomatic Society
... Previous studies have indicated that cigarette craving triggers cigarette smoking (Kober et al., 2010a) and cognitive emotion regulation involves neural dynamics parallel to craving regulation (i.e., prefrontal-striatal pathway; Kober et al., 2010b;Tabibnia et al., 2014). In line with this, previous studies have shown that more negative emotions are associated with more cigarette craving (Juliano and Brandon, 2002;Baker et al., 2004;Shiffman and Waters, 2004;Conklin and Perkins, 2005;Bradley et al., 2007;Battista et al., 2008;Nakajima and Al'absi, 2012) and individuals with mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are more likely to smoke than normal people (McCabe et al., 2004;Gonzalez et al., 2008;Fucito and Juliano, 2009;Morrell et al., 2010). Accordingly, one may hypothesize that regulating negative emotions might be associated with changes in cigarette craving. ...
Article
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Emotion regulation dysfunctions are assumed to contribute to the development of tobacco addiction and relapses among smokers attempting to quit. To further examine this hypothesis, the present study compared heavy smokers with non-smokers (NS) in a reappraisal task. Specifically, we investigated whether non-deprived smokers (NDS) and deprived smokers (DS) differ from non-smokers in cognitive emotion regulation and whether there is an association between the outcome of emotion regulation and the cigarette craving. Sixty-five participants (23 non-smokers, 22 NDS, and 20 DS) were instructed to down-regulate emotions by reappraising negative or positive pictorial scenarios. Self-ratings of valence, arousal, and cigarette craving as well as facial electromyography and electroencephalograph activities were measured. Ratings, facial electromyography, and electroencephalograph data indicated that both NDS and DS performed comparably to nonsmokers in regulating emotional responses via reappraisal, irrespective of the valence of pictorial stimuli. Interestingly, changes in cigarette craving were positively associated with regulation of emotional arousal irrespective of emotional valence. These results suggest that heavy smokers are capable to regulate emotion via deliberate reappraisal and smokers’ cigarette craving is associated with emotional arousal rather than emotional valence. This study provides preliminary support for the therapeutic use of reappraisal to replace maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies in nicotine addicts.
... In addition, anxiety and "anxiety sensitivity" (i.e., a fear of anxious emotions), are related to nicotine use. Notably, anxiety sensitivity correlates with negative reinforcement value of tobacco use (Battista et al., 2008). Individuals with higher levels of anxiety sensitivity appear to have longer persisting symptoms of withdrawal than individuals with lower levels of anxiety sensitivity (Langdon et al., 2013). ...
... The physical signs of dependence include nausea, headache, sleep disturbances, and hunger (Perkins et al., 2009(Perkins et al., , 2012a(Perkins et al., , 2012b. Studies designed to assess the motivation for relapse to smoking have identified the avoidance of anxiety as the primary reason for relapse behavior (Battista et al., 2008;Fidler and West, 2009;Lawrence et al., 2010). During smoking abstinence, a physiological stress response is also elicited, including an increase in blood cortisol levels (Hogle and Curtin, 2006;Steptoe and Ussher, 2006). ...
Article
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Tobacco use is a major economic and health problem. It is particularly concerning that women consume more tobacco products, have a more difficult time quitting smoking and are less likely to benefit from smoking cessation therapy than men. As a result, women are at higher risk of developing tobacco-related diseases. Clinical evidence suggests that women are more susceptible to anxiety disorders, and are more likely to smoke in order to cope with stress than men. During smoking abstinence, women experience more intense anxiety than men and report that the anxiety-reducing effects of smoking are the main reason for their continued tobacco use and relapse. Consistent with this, pre-clinical studies using rodent models suggest that females display more intense stress during nicotine withdrawal than males. This review posits that in women, stress is a principal factor that promotes the initiation of tobacco use and relapse behavior during abstinence. Studies are reviewed at both the clinical and pre-clinical levels to provide support for our hypothesis that stress plays a central role in promoting tobacco use vulnerability in females. The clinical implications of this work are also considered with regard to treatment approaches and the need for more research to help reduce health disparities produced by tobacco use in women. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.
... Specifically, holding stronger beliefs about the anticipated negative affect-reduction properties of smoking (outcome expectancies; Brandon & Baker, 1991) and negative affect-reduction reasons for smoking (motives;McCarthy et al., 2010) are two central processes thought to underlie the anxiety sensitivity-smoking relationships. Indeed, higher levels of anxiety sensitivity are associated with negative affect-reduction smoking motives and expectancies (Battista et al., 2008;Johnson et al., 2013;. ...
Article
Anxiety sensitivity appears to be relevant in understanding the nature of emotional symptoms and disorders associated with smoking. Negative-reinforcement smoking expectancies and motives are implicated as core regulatory processes that may explain, in part, the anxiety sensitivity-smoking interrelations; however, these pathways have received little empirical attention. Participants (N = 471) were adult treatment-seeking daily smokers assessed for a smoking-cessation trial who provided baseline data; 157 participants provided within-treatment (pre-cessation) data. Anxiety sensitivity was examined as a cross-sectional predictor of several baseline smoking processes (nicotine dependence, perceived barriers to cessation, severity of prior withdrawal-related quit problems) and pre-cessation processes including nicotine withdrawal and smoking urges (assessed during 3 weeks before the quit day). Baseline negative-reinforcement smoking expectancies and motives were tested as simultaneous mediators via parallel multiple mediator models. Higher levels of anxiety sensitivity were related to higher levels of nicotine dependence, greater perceived barriers to smoking cessation, more severe withdrawal-related problems during prior quit attempts, and greater average withdrawal before the quit day; effects were indirectly explained by the combination of both mediators. Higher levels of anxiety sensitivity were not directly related to pre-cessation smoking urges but were indirectly related through the independent and combined effects of the mediators. These empirical findings bolster theoretical models of anxiety sensitivity and smoking and identify targets for nicotine dependence etiology research and cessation interventions. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 76, 317-325, 2015).
... 3 Anxiety sensitivity also is related to smoking behavior. For example, anxiety sensitivity is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect 4 and beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect. 5 Higher levels of anxiety sensitivity are predictive of increases in positive affect after cigarette smoking, 6 and smoking has been found to reduce anxiety in high anxiety sensitive smokers who smoked during a stressful situation, but not in a no-stress situation. ...
... Research has also indicated that anxiety sensitivity is related to smoking behavior. For example, anxiety sensitivity is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect (e.g., Battista et al., 2008;Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001) and beliefs (i.e., expectancies) that smoking will reduce negative affect (Johnson, Farris, Schmidt, Smits, & Zvolensky, 2013). Recent research has found that higher levels of anxiety sensitivity were predictive of greater increases in positive affect after cigarette smoking, and therefore, high-anxiety sensitive smokers appear particularly susceptible to mood enhancement from smoking (Wong et al., 2013). ...
Article
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Research has documented consistent and robust relations between emotional disorders (i.e., depressive and anxiety disorders) and smoking. Yet, it is presently unclear whether anxiety sensitivity-the fear of aversive internal anxiety states-accounts for the relations between emotional disorders and various smoking processes, including nicotine dependence, perceived barriers to smoking cessation, and severity of problematic symptoms during past cessation attempts. Participants (N = 465) were treatment-seeking daily tobacco smokers recruited as part of a larger tobacco-cessation study. Baseline (pretreatment) data were utilized. Emotional disorders were assessed via clinical diagnostic interview; self-report measures were used to assess anxiety sensitivity and 3 criterion variables: nicotine dependence, barriers to smoking cessation, and severity of problematic symptoms while quitting in past attempts. Emotional disorders were predictive of higher levels of nicotine dependence, greater perceived barriers to cessation, and greater severity of problematic symptoms while attempting to quit in the past; each of these relations were accounted for by the indirect effect of anxiety sensitivity. The present findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity may be an important transdiagnostic construct in explicating the nature of the relations between emotional disorders and various smoking processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
... Research also indicates anxiety sensitivity is related to smoking behavior. For example, anxiety sensitivity is positively correlated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect (Battista et al., 2008;Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001;Leyro, Zvolensky, Vujanovic, & Bernstein, 2008;Novak, Burgess, Clark, Zvolensky, & Brown, 2003;Stewart, Karp, Pihl, & Peterson, 1997;Zvolensky, Bonn-Miller, Bernstein, & Marshall, 2006) and negative affect reduction expectancies (beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect; Brown, Kahler, Zvolensky, Lejuez, & Ramsey, 2001;Gregor, Zvolensky, McLeish, Bernstein, & Morissette, 2008;Johnson, Farris, Schmidt, Smits, & Zvolensky, 2013). Recent research also suggests that anxiety sensitivity is predictive of greater increases in positive affect pre-to post-cigarette use (Wong et al., 2013) and that among high anxiety-sensitive smokers (relative to low anxiety-sensitive smokers), cigarette smoking after exposure to stressful situations reduces subjective anxiety (Evatt & Kassel, 2010;Perkins, Karelitz, Giedgowd, Conklin, & Sayette, 2010). ...
Article
The present study evaluated a Spanish-language version of an Anxiety Sensitivity Reduction Program for Smoking Cessation among a sample of daily adult smokers from Argentina (n = 6; M-age = 49.4, SD = 15.43) in an open trial methodological design. To be eligible, each participant expressed a current desire to quit smoking and previous difficulties with anxiety/mood symptoms during past quit attempts (e.g., anxiety, stress, depression, irritability). Participants completed a baseline assessment and received eight 90-minute weekly group sessions. The study involved one doctoral-level and two graduate-level therapists. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks post-quit day. Smoking status was confirmed biochemically and via self-report at quit day and each follow-up assessment. The treatment yielded positive results in terms of attendance, positive smoking cessation outcome (5 out of 6 were abstinent at 12-week follow-up), and significant reductions in anxiety sensitivity. The results suggest potential clinical utility among Spanish-speaking smokers for an anxiety-sensitivity smoking cessation program in regard to cessation outcome.
... Recent research suggests AS is related to smoking. For example, higher levels of AS are associated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect 27,28 and negative affect reduction expectancies. 29 Higher levels of AS are also predictive of greater increases in positive affect pre-to post-cigarette use 30 and cigarette smoking after stressful situations that reduce subjective anxiety. ...
Article
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Introduction: Smoking and anxiety disorders frequently co-occur. Trait worry is a core symptom of anxiety disorders. While research suggests worry processes may be important to certain smoking behaviors, the mechanisms explicating these relations remain unknown. Method: The current study examined anxiety sensitivity (AS) as a potential mediator for the relation between trait worry and number of years being a daily smoker, latency to first cigarette of the day, smoking rate, heaviness of smoking, and nicotine dependence among treatment-seeking daily smokers (N = 376; 47% female; M age = 37.76, SD = 13.46). Results: Consistent with prediction, AS significantly mediated the relations between trait worry and the studied smoking variables. Conclusion: The present findings suggest it may be useful to clinically address AS among worry-prone, treatment-seeking daily smokers in order to address smoking behavior.
... A second factor that is not just related to personality, but in fact constitutes a facet of personality and which is deeply involved in impulsivity and the reward system, is sensation seeking [14]. In this respect it has been found that sensation seeking is associated with personality pathology, in particular with cluster B PDs [15,16] as well as with substance use and SUD [17,18]. ...
Article
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Many research findings link personality disorders (PDs) with substance use. Another line of evidence relates PDs to sensation seeking and dysfunctional coping. We analysed data from 511 participants, aged 20 to 41 years, in the ZInEP Epidemiology Survey, a comprehensive survey of the general population of Zurich, Switzerland. A series of bivariate generalised linear models revealed that smoking, quantity of alcohol use, cannabis use and other drug use were substantially associated with paranoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, and histrionic PDs. In a multivariate path analysis adjusted for sensation seeking and dysfunctional coping, smoking was mainly associated with borderline PD. Frequency and quantity of alcohol use as well as drug use were uniquely related to sensation seeking. Sensation seeking was mainly predicted by antisocial PD and dysfunctional coping by borderline PD. Sensation seeking was a significant mediator of associations between substance use and cluster B PDs, in particular of antisocial PD. PDs and substance use are consistently associated. Sensation seeking was substantially involved in substance use and cluster B PDs and a strong mediator particularly of antisocial PD. We suggest that impulsivity and disinhibition are the main processes underlying this association and hypothesise that the dopaminergic neurocircuitry plays a major role.
... stress/boredom relief) motives as the highest rated motives for smoking (Fidler & West, 2009), related to daily cigarette consumption (McEwen, West, & Mc-Robbie, 2008), increased levels of alcohol use (Cooper, 1994;Kuntsche et al., 2006b), heavier drinking problems (Bradizza et al., 1999;Carey & Correia, 1997;Cooper et al., 1992), and higher frequency of marijuana use among different populations (Bonn-Miller, Chabrol et al., 2005;Simons et al., 1998Simons et al., , 2000. Those findings are in line with the proposition that substance use motives could be reduced to the negative and positive reinforcement motive dimensions (Battista et al., 2008). Interestingly, social motives were more commonly associated with infrequent alcohol use and with drinking in social settings (Cooper, 1994;Kuntsche et al., 2006b), contrary to the current study. ...
Article
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The research aimed to explore the salience of different motives for substance use among alcohol, tobacco and marijuana users, and to investigate the difference in motives' salience with regard to frequency of substance use and respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. Data were collected among subsamples of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana users drawn from the representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4756). Respondents assessed four types, and for marijuana use five types of motives for each substance use (enhancement, social, conformity, coping, and expansion). The enhancement motives were assessed as the most, and conformity motives as the least salient motives among all groups of substance users. Generally, enhanced salience of motives was related to the frequency of all types of substance use. While age had significant effect on the salience of social motives for tobacco use, gender and marital status had significant effect on the salience of all motives for alcohol use, and age had significant effect only on the salience of enhancement and social motives for alcohol use. Among marijuana users, only marital status had significant effect on the salience of expansion motives for marijuana use. Results are discussed within the framework of motivational models for substance use.
... More recent research indicates anxiety sensitivity is related to smoking behavior. For example, higher levels of anxiety sensitivity are associated with smoking motives to reduce negative affect (Battista et al., 2008;Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001;) and negative affect reduction expectancies (beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect; Johnson, Farris, Schmidt, Smits, & Zvolensky, 2013). Recent research also suggests that high levels of anxiety sensitivity are predictive of greater increases in positive affect pre-to postcigarette use (Wong et al., 2013) and that among high anxiety sensitive smokers (relative to low anxiety sensitive smokers), cigarette smoking after stressful situations reduces subjective anxiety (Evatt & Kassel, 2010;Perkins, Karelitz, Giedgowd, Conklin, & Sayette, 2010). ...
Article
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Recent scholarly attention has focused on explicating the nature of tobacco use among anxiety-vulnerable smokers. Anxiety sensitivity (fear of aversive internal anxiety states) is a cognitive-affective individual difference factor related to the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms and disorders and various smoking processes. The present study examined the cross-sectional associations between anxiety sensitivity and a range of cognitive and behavioral smoking processes, and the mediating role of the tendency to respond inflexibly and with avoidance in the presence of smoking-related distress (i.e., avoidance and inflexibility to smoking [AIS]) in such relations. Participants (n = 466) were treatment-seeking daily tobacco smokers recruited as part of a larger tobacco cessation study. Baseline (pretreatment) data were utilized. Self-report measures were used to assess anxiety sensitivity, AIS, and 4 criterion variables: barriers to smoking cessation, quit attempt history, severity of problematic symptoms reported in past quit attempts, and mood-management smoking expectancies. Results indicated that anxiety sensitivity was indirectly related to greater barriers to cessation, greater number of prior quit attempts and greater mood-management smoking expectancies through the tendency to respond inflexibly/avoid to the presence of distressing smoking-related thoughts, feelings, and internal sensations; but not severity of problems experienced while quitting. The present findings suggest AIS may be an explanatory mechanism between anxiety sensitivity and certain smoking processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
... Extant research indicates that smokers with elevated AS may use cigarette smoking to regulate negative affect. A number of studies have found that AS is positively related to smoking to reduce negative affect, but often not other smoking motives [e.g., pleasure, handling, taste (Battista et al., 2008;Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001;Leyro, Zvolensky, Vujanovic, & Bernstein, 2008;Novak, Burgess, Clark, Zvolensky, & Brown, 2003;Stewart, Karp, Pihl, & Peterson, 1997;Zvolensky et al., 2006)]. Other studies have found that AS is related to smoking negative affect reduction expectancies [i.e., beliefs smoking will reduce negative affect (Brown, Kahler, Zvolensky, Lejuez, & Ramsey, 2001;Gregor, Zvolensky, McLeish, Bernstein, & Morissette, 2008)]. ...
Article
Recent empirical work has revealed a significant relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS), particularly the AS cognitive concerns subfactor, and suicidality among cigarette smokers. The current study prospectively tested whether an intervention targeting AS (i.e. an AS-augmented smoking cessation program) would predict lower suicidality in a population known to be at increased risk for death by suicide (i.e. cigarette smokers). Participants (N = 169) were randomly assigned to a standard cognitive behavioral smoking intervention or a cognitive behavioral smoking intervention with an AS reduction component. Findings indicate that the participants who received the AS-augmented intervention had lower suicidality compared to those in the standard intervention, even accounting for baseline suicidality, substance use disorder diagnosis, current depression, current anxiety, and current smoking status. As the first examination of the effect of an AS reduction program on suicidality, this study provides initial support for the hypothesis that reducing AS may lead to lower suicidality. Future work should include testing an AS intervention in a sample with elevated suicidality, as well as specifically targeting AS cognitive concerns, which has a stronger and more consistent relationship with suicidality than global AS.
... More recent work suggests that AS also plays a formative role in smoking behavior. For example, AS is positively correlated with smoking to reduce negative affect, but often not with other smoking motives (for example, handling, taste343536373839). Other studies have found that AS is related to negative affect reduction expectancies for smoking (beliefs that smoking will reduce negative affect [40,41] ). ...
Article
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Objectives: High anxiety sensitivity predicts poor smoking cessation outcomes. Aerobic exercise reduces anxiety sensitivity and aspects of the risk conferred by anxiety sensitivity. In the current study, we examined whether exercise can aid smoking cessation in adults with high anxiety sensitivity. Methods: Participants were sedentary and low-activity adult daily smokers (n = 136) with elevated prescreen anxiety sensitivity. Participants received 15 weeks of standard smoking cessation treatment (ST; cognitive behavioral therapy plus nicotine replacement therapy). In addition, participants were simultaneously randomized to 15 weeks of either an exercise intervention (ST + EX; n = 72) or a wellness education control condition (ST + CTRL; n = 64). Self-reported smoking abstinence was assessed weekly during the intervention, at the end of treatment (10 weeks after the target quit date), and at 4 and 6 months after the target quit date. Abstinence was verified by expired carbon monoxide readings and saliva cotinine. Results: Results indicated that point prevalence abstinence (PPA) and prolonged abstinence (PA) rates were significantly higher for ST + EX than for ST + CTRL at each of the major end points among persons with high anxiety sensitivity (PPA: b = -0.91, standard error [SE] = 0.393, t(1171) = -2.33, p = .020; PA: b = -0.98, SE = 0.346, t(132) = -2.84, p = .005), but not among those with low anxiety sensitivity (PPA: b = -0.23, SE = 0.218, t(1171) = -1.06, p = .29; PA: b = -0.31, SE = 0.306, t(132) = -1.01, p = .32). Conclusions: The present results suggest that exercise facilitates the odds of quit success for smokers with high levels of anxiety sensitivity and therefore may be a useful therapeutic tactic for this high-risk segment of the smoking population. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01065506.
... A growing corpus of empirical work also indicates that AS is associated with numerous aspects of cigarette smoking ( Morissette, Tull, Gulliver, Kamholz, & Zimering, 2007 ;Zvolensky & Bernstein, 2005 ;Zvolensky, Kotov, Antipova, & Schmidt, 2003 ). For example, AS is positively correlated with smoking to reduce negative affect ( Battista et al., 2008 ;Comeau, Stewart, & Loba, 2001 ;Novak, Burgess, Clark, Zvolensky, & Brown, 2003 ;Stewart, Karp, Pihl, & Peterson, 1997 ;Zvolensky, Bonn-Miller, Bernstein, & Marshall, 2006 ) as well as addictivebased smoking motives ( Leyro, Zvolensky, Vujanovic, & Bernstein, 2008 ). Other studies have found that AS is related to the belief that smoking will reduce negative affect (i.e., negative reinforcement/negative affect reduction expectancies ; Brown, Kahler, Zvolensky, Lejuez, & Ramsey, 2001 ;Gregor, Zvolensky, McLeish, Bernstein, & Morissette, 2008 ). ...
Article
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Introduction: Empirical research has found that panic attacks are related to increased risk of more severe nicotine withdrawal and poor cessation outcome. Anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety and related sensations) has similarly been found to be related to an increased risk of acute nicotine withdrawal and poorer cessation outcome. However, research has yet to examine the relative contributions of panic attacks and AS in terms of cognitive-based smoking processes (e.g., negative reinforcement smoking expectancies, addictive and negative affect-based reduction smoking motives, barriers to cessation, problem symptoms experienced while quitting). Method: Participants (n = 242; 57.4% male; M (age) = 38.1) were daily smokers recruited as a part of a larger randomized control trial for smoking cessation. It was hypothesized that both panic attacks and AS would uniquely and independently predict the studied cognitive-based smoking processes. Results: As hypothesized, AS was uniquely and positively associated with all smoking processes after controlling for average number of cigarettes smoked per day, current Axis I diagnosis, and participant sex. However, panic attack history was only significantly related to problem symptoms experienced while quitting smoking. Conclusions: Although past research has demonstrated significant associations between panic attacks and certain aspects of cigarette smoking (e.g., severity of nicotine withdrawal; lower abstinence rates, and negative affect reduction motives), the present findings suggest that AS may be more relevant to understanding beliefs about and motives for smoking behavior as well as perceptions of cessation-related difficulties.
Article
Although rates of cigarette smoking have declined in the US, many individuals report experiencing significant barriers to quitting smoking, including poor mental health. Two prominent affective vulnerability factors that independently underlie both smoking behavior and processes and mental health include distress tolerance and anxiety sensitivity. However, limited work has examined the concurrent role of these factors on motivational reasons for smoking. The current study is a secondary analysis of baseline data from a nationally recruited sample of individuals (N = 156; Mage = 29.74, SD = 7.72; 69.2% female) interested in participating in a digitally delivered intervention for comorbid smoking and low distress tolerance. Two-step hierarchical linear regression was used to examine the unique role of self-reported distress tolerance and anxiety sensitivity in relation to reasons for smoking (i.e., habitual, negative affect reduction, addictive, pleasurable/relaxation, stimulation, and sensorimotor manipulation). Results indicated that lower levels of distress tolerance and greater levels of anxiety sensitivity were associated with greater sensorimotor manipulation reasons for smoking. Only distress tolerance was related to addictive, negative affect reduction, and stimulation reasons for smoking, whereas only anxiety sensitivity was related to habitual reasons for smoking. The current findings suggest that there is an explanatory utility for unique and multi-risk effects for distress tolerance and anxiety sensitivity for understanding smoking motives.
Article
Black smokers demonstrate higher nicotine dependence and experience higher rates of smoking-related diseases and mortality relative to European American/White smokers. A potential factor relevant to race-specific smoking health disparities may be smoking motives (i.e., motivational basis of smoking). Yet, little research has been conducted to understand psychological factors that may be associated with specific smoking motives among Black smokers. To address this gap in the literature, the current study explored the association between anxiety sensitivity and smoking motives within a subset sample of Black smokers who were interested in participating in a smoking cessation trial (N = 105; 70.5 % male; Mage = 44.8 years, SD = 11.6 years). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated anxiety sensitivity was associated with smoking motives related to habit (β = 0.39, p <.001), negative affect reduction (β = 0.32, p <.001), stimulation (β = 0.31, p <.001), and sensorimotor manipulation (β = 0.26, p =.008). Limited support was found for the effect of motives on past quit attempt engagement. These results may broaden understanding of the psychological mechanisms related to smoking motivation among Black smokers and may inform future intervention efforts to reduce smoking motivation among this health disparities population.
Article
Background: E-cigarette use has increased exponentially over the past decade, particularly among current combustible cigarette users. Preliminary evidence has demonstrated differences across exclusive and dual e-cigarette/combustible cigarette users, such that dual users represent a more clinically severe group. Yet, the extent to which these groups differ on critical transdiagnostic risk factors that may promote and maintain nicotine dependence, such as anxiety sensitivity and emotional dysregulation has yet to be systematically studied. The purpose of the current study was to examine differences between exclusive e-cigarette users and dual e-cigarette and combustible cigarette users in anxiety sensitivity and both global emotion regulation difficulties as well as within specific emotion regulation difficulty domains. Methods: Participants were 192 exclusive e-cigarette users and 315 dual e-cigarette and combustible cigarette users (52.1% female, Mage = 34.8 years, SD = 11.42). Results: Compared to exclusive e-cigarette users, dual users reported higher anxiety sensitivity, overall emotion regulation difficulties, and specific emotion regulation difficulties related to impulse control and lack of access to effective emotion regulation strategies. There were no group differences in emotion regulation difficulties related to emotional clarity, ability to engage in goal-directed behavior when upset, and emotional non-acceptance. Conclusion: The current data suggest that dual users are an at-risk group in terms of emotional processes. Dual users would likely benefit from targeted intervention efforts focused on reducing anxiety sensitivity and improving emotion regulation in order to reduce nicotine consumption and/or promote cessation.
Article
Objectives: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disability. Although most US smokers want to quit, more than 95% of cessation attempts end in relapse within 6 months. To improve cessation outcomes, research has turned to targetable mechanisms, such as anxiety sensitivity (AS), which maintain smoking behaviour, impede cessation success, and can be effectively targeted in the context of psychosocial interventions. Although integrated treatment programmes that address AS reduction in the context of smoking cessation have demonstrated promising results, presently, no mobile, technology-based integrated treatment exists to expressly address smoking and AS. The current study evaluated the initial feasibility and acceptability of a mobile smoking cessation intervention, Mobile Anxiety Sensitivity Program for smoking (MASP). Methods: Participants were 15 daily adult combustible cigarette smokers (females n = 6, Mage = 46.5 years, SD = 13.3) who completed a 6-week total intervention period (baseline visit, 2 weeks pre-quit, 4 weeks post-quit, follow-up visit). Results: Most participants (N = 12) completed the full 6-week intervention, and participant engagement with MASP was high. Participants reported that MASP was acceptable. Biochemical verification of smoking abstinence indicated 25% of smokers were abstinent for at least 24 hr prior to the in-person 4 weeks post-quit follow-up visit. Conclusions: Findings indicated that MASP has the potential to provide effective assistance to those wanting to quit cigarettes. Practitioner points: Mobile-based smoking cessation interventions may be a promising treatment option, particularly for those of lower socio-economic status. Targeting AS in the context of a mobile-based smoking cessation app may be a viable way to improve smoking cessation success and treatment outcome. Due to the pilot nature of this study, there was no control group. Thus, comparative conclusions and generalizability based on the current study must be made with caution.
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Despite the negative health consequences associated with smoking, most smokers find it difficult to quit. This is especially true for smokers with elevated social anxiety. One factor that may play a role in maintaining smoking with elevated anxiety is false safety behavior (FSB), behaviors geared toward decreasing anxiety short-term but that maintain or increase anxiety long-term. The present study tested whether FSB explained the relation of social anxiety severity with smoking among 71 current smokers. Avoidance-related FSB was the only type of FSB related to cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) and it was robustly related to more CPD. Further, social anxiety was related to CPD indirectly via FSB-Avoidance. Findings suggest that more frequent use of avoidance behaviors to manage anxiety may maintain smoking and may partially explain the high rates of smoking among those with elevated social anxiety. Thus, FSB may be a promising target in smoking cessation interventions, especially among those with elevated social anxiety.
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Introduction: Although e-cigarette use is on the rise among youth and adults, there is little understanding of the individual difference factors at a cognitive level of analysis for e-cigarette beliefs and quit behavior. Method: The present investigation sought to test a theoretically driven interactive model of positive expectancies for e-cigarettes and anxiety sensitivity (fear of the consequences of anxiety) among 551 adult e-cigarette users (50.6% female, Mage = 35.2 years, SD = 10.1). Results: Results indicated a significant interaction between positive expectancies for e-cigarette use and AS was significantly related to greater perceived benefits of e-cigarette use, greater perceived risk of e-cigarette use, and more serious attempts for trying to quit e-cigarettes. The significant interaction effect for each dependent variable was evident over and above the main effects as well as the covariates of sex, income, education, and concurrent combustible cigarette use. The form of this interaction indicated that e-cigarette users higher in AS who also maintained more positive outcome expectancies for e-cigarette use reported more perceived benefits as well as more perceived risk of e-cigarette use and engaged in more (failed) attempts to quit e-cigarettes. Conclusions: Overall, the current data suggest that individual differences in AS and positive expectancies may represent two important factors to consider in e-cigarette beliefs and quit attempts. Implications: This study provides the first empirical evidence of a transdiagnostic construct (anxiety sensitivity) in relation to e-cigarette use and how it interplays with positive expectancies for e-cigarette use beliefs and behavior. These novel data suggest that future clinical research may benefit by understanding the potential therapeutic role of anxiety sensitivity and expectancies for e-cigarette use behavior.
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Introduction: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety symptoms related to physical, cognitive, and social concerns. AS has been implicated in amplifying negative emotional states and maintaining smoking behavior. Aims: The current cross-sectional study evaluated the lower-order facets of AS (Physical, Cognitive, Social concerns) in relation to current nicotine withdrawal symptoms, short-term consequences of abstaining from smoking, and cigarette dependence. Methods: 331 adult Italian smokers were recruited from the general population and asked to fill in scales assessing AS, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and cigarette dependence. Results: All ASI-3 subscales were associated with psychological symptoms of nicotine abstinence (β = 0.30–0.10; p ≥ 0.001), whereas ASI-3 physical concerns (β = 0.62; p ≥ 0.001) and ASI-3 cognitive concerns (β = 0.25; p ≥ 0.001) were associated with physical symptoms of nicotine abstinence. No ASI-3 subscales were associated with short-term smoking abstinence expectancies. ASI-3 physical concerns (β = 0.72; p ≥ 0.001) and ASI-3 cognitive concerns (β = 0.25; p ≥ 0.001) were associated with cigarette dependence. Discussion: ASI-3 physical concerns and ASI-3 cognitive concerns could amplify withdrawal-related factors, thereby increasing the negative reinforcement processes which might motivate smoking.
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Background: While much research and practice resources have addressed smoking cessation among cancer patients, less emphasis has been placed on personal psychological and environment factors associated with smoking at the time of diagnosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine differences in psychological distress, optimism, and perceptions of the health environment/illness experience based on smoking status in patients with current, former, and no smoking history with newly diagnosed suspected or actual lung cancer. Methods: Data were derived from a descriptive study of 52 patients (34 men and 18 women aged 37-83 years) undergoing diagnostic evaluation for actual or suspected lung cancer. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize data. Analysis of variance, χ, and Spearman correlation tests were used to determine relationships among main study variables (smoking status, anxiety, worry, perceived cognitive functioning, optimistic outlook, health environment/illness experience perceptions). Results: Current smoking status was associated with higher psychological distress (anxiety and worry) among patients facing a new suspected or actual cancer diagnosis. Conclusions: The study was able to provide important information relative to smoking status and psychological distress at the time of diagnosis of suspected or actual lung cancer. Findings demonstrate needs for assessment and targeted interventions to reduce psychological distress and to promote long-term adaptation in patients smoking at time of diagnosis. Implications for practice: Nurses are positioned to provide support and resources for cancer patients. It is critical that smoking cessation interventions also address nicotine craving, emotion regulation, and adaptive coping skills.
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Objective: Prevailing theory and research suggests the psychological and physiological discomfort associated with tobacco withdrawal may play a formative role in the risk of cessation failure. Yet, research elucidating cognitive-affective vulnerability characteristics that contribute to increased tobacco withdrawal severity during periods of planned abstinence is highly limited. In the current study, we explored whether smokers with greater reductions of Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) and dysphoria during a smoking cessation intervention would experience less severe postquit tobacco withdrawal. Method: Specifically, the interactive effect of change (from preintervention baseline to quit day) in AS and dysphoria in relation to postquit withdrawal severity (quit day through 12 weeks postquit) was examined among treatment-seeking adult smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation trial (N = 198; 55.3% female; 86.8% Caucasian; Mage = 38.8, SD = 14.0). Results: Results indicated that the interactive effect of change in AS and dysphoria was related to linear change in postquit withdrawal symptoms. Specifically, larger reductions in AS were associated with a faster decline in the severity of withdrawal symptoms across the 12-week postquit period only for individuals with lower (but not higher) reductions in dysphoria. Additionally, the findings indicated that reducing levels of AS and dysphoria prequit is broadly related to the degree of change in postquit withdrawal symptoms. Conclusion: Collectively, these data suggest there is apt to be clinical merit to employing strategies to address AS and/or dysphoria to more effectively manage emergent withdrawal symptoms following smoking cessation treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Cigarette smoking is more common among individuals with asthma compared to those without, resulting in increased risk of morbidity and mortality. However, there has been little exploration of psychological factors that differ between smokers with and without asthma. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine differences between smokers with and without asthma in terms of anxiety sensitivity, panic symptoms, lifetime history of panic attacks, and lifetime history of panic disorder. Participants were 115 smokers with asthma (55.3% male, Mage = 38.4 years, SD = 11.9) and 120 smokers without asthma (70.6% male, Mage = 37.0 years, SD = 12.8) who were administered a structured diagnostic interview and completed self-report measures. As hypothesized, after controlling for the effects of cigarettes per day, gender, race, and education, smokers with asthma reported higher levels of anxiety sensitivity and panic symptoms and were at an increased risk for having a lifetime history of panic attacks (OR = 3.01) and panic disorder (OR = 2.96) compared to smokers without asthma. Further, group differences in anxiety sensitivity and panic symptoms remained even after removing participants with a lifetime history of panic attacks or panic disorder. These findings suggest that smokers with asthma are a particularly 'at-risk' population for panic psychopathology and likely in need of specialized smoking-related prevention and intervention efforts.
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Background: This research was motivated by findings that college students who smoke cigarettes often self-categorize as nonsmokers, that is, they reject the social identity of "smoker." Objectives: The goal of the present study was to shed light on college students' smoker identities beyond the smoker/nonsmoker dichotomy. Methods: Focus groups were conducted to investigate how college students categorize their own smoking patterns and to identify what behaviors and attitudes are associated with these different categories of smoker identities. Forty-one students from a western university participated in this study in November 2011. Results: The focus group results indicated that there were five distinct smoker identities on campus. Light and regular smokers were the daily smoker identities present, while stress, social, and drunk smokers were the occasional smoker identities. Moreover, each of these smoker identities was defined by a unique pattern of smoking behavior, attitudes, and motives. Conclusions/Importance: These findings support the notion that there are different types of smokers, both daily and occasional, in the college population. We suggest that researchers, healthcare providers, and prevention/intervention programs may all benefit from distinguishing between these different types of smokers.
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The Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) is based on a model of personality risk for substance abuse in which four personality dimensions (hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking) are hypothesized to differentially relate to specific patterns of substance use. The current series of studies is a preliminary exploration of the psychometric properties of the SURPS in two populations (undergraduate and high school students). In study 1, an analysis of the internal structure of two versions of the SURPS shows that the abbreviated version best reflects the 4-factor structure. Concurrent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the SURPS is supported by convergent/divergent relationships between the SURPS subscales and other theoretically relevant personality and drug use criterion measures. In Study 2, the factorial structure of the SURPS is confirmed and evidence is provided for its test–retest reliability and validity with respect to measuring personality vulnerability to reinforcement-specific substance use patterns. In Study 3, the SURPS was administered in a more youthful population to test its sensitivity in identifying younger problematic drinkers. The results from the current series of studies demonstrate support for the reliability and construct validity of the SURPS, and suggest that four personality dimensions may be linked to substance-related behavior through different reinforcement processes. This brief assessment tool may have important implications for clinicians and future research.
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This article reviews the empirical status of theories of fear and phobia. Psychoanalysis received little support, as findings tend to refute its basic assumption that phobia results from repressed material. Although conditioning has its weaknesses, it appears to be the strongest explanation of simple phobia. Findings raise question as to whether interoceptive conditioning can account for the development of panic disorder and agoraphobia, as these disorders develop in the absence of environmental conditioning events. A significant body of research supports Clark’s claim that catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations are involved in both the development and treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia. However, the causal relationship between the two remains unclear. Likewise, while biological factors certainly increase the vulnerability to developing fear and phobia, findings have not yet confirmed that these behaviors are controlled by biological mechanisms. A new theory, the Rational-Choice Theory of Neurosis (Rofé, 2010; Y. Rofé & Rofé, 2013), which preserves the psychoanalytic claim that bizarre phobias need to be explained within a theory that accounts for neuroses by one set of theoretical concepts, was used to resolve the theoretical confusion in this field.
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This chapter uses Cox and Klinger’s motivational model of alcohol use as a framework for reviewing research on motives for using alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco. Results of this review provide strong support for key premises underpinning this model in the alcohol literature, including that people drink alcohol to manage internal feeling states and to obtain valued social outcomes. Importantly, these motives may provide a final common pathway to alcohol use through which the influences of more distal variables are mediated. The research literature on motives for marijuana use revealed important similarities in the nature of motives underlying use and in the unique patterns of use and use-related consequences associated with specific motives. Research on tobacco use motives showed few similarities, with tobacco use being more habitual, automatic, and largely motivated by withdrawal cues, at least among more experienced and dependent users.
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Anxiety sensitivity is associated with smoking processes and poorer clinical outcomes. Yet, the specific mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Smoking-specific avoidance and inflexibility (AIS) is a construct implicated in multiple manifestations of mood regulation that may underlie smoking severity. The current study examined whether AIS accounted for (ie, statistically mediated) the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and multiple indices of smoking severity. Baseline self-report data were collected among treatment-seeking smokers (N = 396; 48% female; Mage = 37.8 years) taking part in a larger intervention study. Gender, smoking-related medical history, Axis I diagnoses, hazardous alcohol use, substance abuse/dependence, and negative affectivity were statistically controlled in analyses. Anxiety sensitivity was indirectly related to all smoking severity variables, with the exception of nicotine dependence, through its relation with AIS. These findings provide initial evidence suggesting AIS may be an important construct in better understanding anxiety sensitivity-smoking relations. Results suggest the importance of AIS as a malleable target for smoking cessation intervention. (Am J Addict 2015;9999:1-8). © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.
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The simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) algorithm shows good performance in superpixel generation for optical imagery. However, SLIC can perform poorly when there is too much noise in the image. To solve this problem, we have improved the cluster center initialization step and the postprocessing step, and then introduce the SLIC superpixel segmentation algorithm to the polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) image processing field. Experiments using AirSAR and ESAR L-band PolSAR data show that the improved SLIC algorithm can overcome the effect of speckle noise in PolSAR imagery, and it shows a better performance in detail preservation than the original SLIC algorithm and the normalized cuts superpixel segmentation algorithm.
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The current investigation examined whether anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety-related sensations) explains the relation between emotional non-acceptance (unwillingness to experience unwanted emotions) and panic, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms among treatment-seeking daily smokers (N = 342, 46.2% female; Mage = 37.4, SD = 13.3). Consistent with hypotheses, emotional non-acceptance was found to be uniquely related to panic, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Additionally, emotional non-acceptance was found to have a significant indirect effect on panic, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms through anxiety sensitivity. All observed effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by theoretically relevant variables including tobacco-related medical illness, number of cigarettes smoked per day, alcohol use problems, and negative affectivity. These findings are discussed in relation to the mechanisms underlying the expression of anxiety/depressive symptoms among daily smokers.
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Introduction: Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., AS; the degree to which one believes that anxiety and its related sensations are harmful) is a stable trait that is associated with habitual smoking. Yet, the mechanisms linking AS and smoking are unclear. A promising hypothesis is that high-AS individuals are more sensitive to the acute subjective reinforcing effects of smoking and are, therefore, more prone to tobacco dependence. This study examined trait AS as a predictor of several subjective effects of cigarette smoking. Methods: Adult non-treatment-seeking smokers (N = 87; 10+ cigarettes/day) completed a measure of AS during a baseline session. Prior to a subsequent experimental session, participants were asked to smoke normally before their appointment. At the outset of that visit, each participant smoked a single cigarette of their preferred brand in the laboratory. Self-report measures of affect and cigarette craving were completed before and after smoking, and post-cigarette subjective effect ratings were provided. Results: AS predicted greater increases in positive affect from pre- to post-cigarette (β = .30, p = .006) as well as greater smoking satisfaction and psychological reward (β = .23 to .48, ps < .03). Each of these effects remained statistically significant after adjusting for anxiety symptom severity. AS did not predict the degree of negative affect and craving suppression or post-cigarette aversive effects. Conclusions: These findings suggest that positive reinforcement mechanisms may be particularly salient etiological processes that maintain smoking in high-AS individuals.
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The current study investigated whether emotion dysregulation (difficulties in the self-regulation of affective states) mediated relationships between anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety and related sensations) and cognitive-based smoking processes. Participants (n = 197; 57.5% male; mean age = 38.0 years) were daily smokers recruited as part of a randomized control trial for smoking cessation. Anxiety sensitivity was uniquely associated with all smoking processes. Moreover, emotion dysregulation significantly mediated relationships between anxiety sensitivity and the smoking processes. Findings suggest that emotion dysregulation is an important construct to consider in relationships between anxiety sensitivity and cognitive-based smoking processes among adult treatment-seeking smokers.
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Cognitive-behavioral approaches to alcohol and drug use disorders have received considerable empirical support over the past 20 years. One cognitive-behavioral treatment, relapse prevention, was initially designed as an adjunct to existing treatments. It has also been extensively used as a stand-alone treatment and serves as the basis for several other cognitive and behavioral treatments. After a brief review of relapse prevention, as well as the hypothesized mechanisms of change in cognitive and behavioral treatments, we will describe a "new" approach to alcohol and drug problems called mindfulness-based relapse prevention. Preliminary data in support of mindfulness-meditation as a treatment for addictive behavior are provided and directions for future research are discussed.
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The relationship between depression and reinforcement is central to therapy that changes reinforcing events, depression and reinforcement are assumed to be highly related phenomena. The main goal is to enhance the quantity and the quality of the person's reinforcement-related interaction. Procedures include the systematic assessment of depression level, pinpointing of key pleasant and unpleasant events, and the daily monitoring of pleasant and unpleasant events and mood. Tactics include a wide range of cognitive-behavioral interventions such as assertion, relaxation training, daily planning and time management training, and cognitive procedures intended to allow the person to deal more adaptively with aversive situations. A therapist manual is available. Pre-, post- and follow-up data for 3 groups of depressed individuals are presented. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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A 4-factor measure of drinking motives based on a conceptual model by M. Cox and E. Klinger (see PA, Vol 75:32975; see also 1990) is presented. Using data from a representative household sample of 1,243 Black and White adolescents, confirmatory factor analyses showed that the hypothesized model provided an excellent fit to the data and that the factor pattern was invariant across gender, race, and age. Each drinking motive was related to a distinct pattern of contextual antecedents and drinking-related outcomes, and these relationships did not generally vary across demographic subgroups. Results support both the conceptual validity of Cox and Klinger's model and the utility of this measure for clinical and research purposes across a diverse range of adolescent populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In psychological research, it is desirable to be able to make statistical comparisons between correlation coefficients measured on the same individuals. For example, an experimenter (E) may wish to assess whether 2 predictors correlate equally with a criterion variable. In another situation, the E may wish to test the hypothesis that an entire matrix of correlations has remained stable over time. The present article reviews the literature on such tests, points out some statistics that should be avoided, and presents a variety of techniques that can be used safely with medium to large samples. Several numerical examples are provided. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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We examine and refine the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ; Fagerström, 1978). The relation between each FTQ item and biochemical measures of heaviness of smoking was examined in 254 smokers. We found that the nicotine rating item and the inhalation item were unrelated to any of our biochemical measures and these two items were primary contributors to psychometric deficiencies in the FTQ. We also found that a revised scoring of time to the first cigarette of the day (TTF) and number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) improved the scale. We present a revision of the FTQ: the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).
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An integrated theoretical conceptualization of the cooccurrence of panic disorder and smoking (PDSM) is presented. First, the nature and prevalence of this apparently costly, yet largely unrecognized, co-occurrence of health care problems is described. Second, a theoretical analysis regarding how smoking may negatively impact panic disorder is described. Third, the negative impact of panic disorder on smoking outcomes is discussed. Finally, primary implications of this conceptualization for the research and treatment of individuals with PDSM are elaborated, including the need to assess for smoking among persons with panic disorder and the potential need for specialized treatment approaches.
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This review provides a detailed analysis of anxiety and depression as they relate to each stage of the cigarette smoking cycle: initiation, maintenance, and cessation with an emphasis on nicotine withdrawal. An analysis of the literature confirms that cigarette smoking is highly comorbid with anxiety disorders and clinical depression, and that this relationship appears to be moderated by factors such as age of the smoker, type of disorder, and level of nicotine dependence. Studies also offer evidence to suggest a relationship between smoking and both subclinical anxiety and depression. Research findings have not revealed whether common factors influence the development of anxiety, depression, and smoking, whether anxiety and depression lead to smoking, or whether the reverse is true. Nevertheless, a current understanding of the links among smoking, anxiety, and depression confirms current prevention and cessation techniques, as well as suggests new directions for research and clinical practice.
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We examine and refine the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ: Fagerström, 1978). The relation between each FTQ item and biochemical measures of heaviness of smoking was examined in 254 smokers. We found that the nicotine rating item and the inhalation item were unrelated to any of our biochemical measures and these two items were primary contributors to psychometric deficiencies in the FTQ. We also found that a revised scoring of time to the first cigarette of the day (TTF) and number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) improved the scale. We present a revision of the FTQ: the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).
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A review of recent research shows that some consensus on the number, nature, and function of smoking motives or styles is emerging. Large-scales studies on the stability of motives and the utility of the smoking motive model, however, have not yet been reported. To test the factorial replicatibility and longitudinal stability of smoking motives, the Horn-Waingrow Smoker Survey was administered to subjects in 1973 and again in 1976, together with 20 additional items developed by Coan. Subjects were 1,340 current and former adult male smokers. Factor analyses showed that the original factor structure could be satisfactorily replicated at both times, and that the addition of Coan's new items contributed only one new factor. The 3-year stability coefficients for both continuing and former smokers ranged from .45 to .67, consistent with the idea that smoking motives are a relatively stable reflection of personality needs and traits.
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The authors examined whether motivations for drinking alcohol are associated with the anxiety-related dispositional tendencies of anxiety sensitivity, experiential avoidance, and alexithymic coping. The authors administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, Experiential Avoidance Scale, 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire, and a demographics questionnaire to 182 university drinkers. In multiple regressions, the dispositional factors significantly predicted the risky drinking motives of coping, enhancement, and conformity. Coping and enhancement motives were significantly predicted by experiential avoidance. Conformity motives were significantly and independently predicted by anxiety sensitivity and alexithymia. The process of experiential avoidance mediated the bivariate correlation between anxiety sensitivity and coping-motivated drinking to a greater extent than did the process of alexithymic coping. The authors discuss the observed relations in regard to the psychological functions of drinking behavior that may portend the development of heavy drinking and alcohol problems in dispositionally vulnerable individuals. They also review implications for refinements of behavior therapy for problem drinkers.
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The dependence construct fills an important explanatory role in motivational accounts of smoking and relapse. Frequently used measures of dependence are either atheoretical or grounded in a unidimensional model of physical dependence. This research creates a multidimensional measure of dependence that is based on theoretically grounded motives for drug use and is intended to reflect mechanisms underlying dependence. Data collected from a large sample of smokers (N = 775) indicated that all 13 subscales of the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68) have acceptable internal consistency, are differentially present across levels of smoking heaviness, and have a multidimensional structure. Validity analyses indicated the WISDM-68 subscales are significantly related to dependence criteria such as smoking heaviness and to 4th edition Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders symptoms of dependence and relapse.
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Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is an established cognitive risk factor for anxiety disorders. In children and adolescents, AS is usually measured with the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI). Factor analytic studies suggest that the CASI is comprised of 3 lower-order factors pertaining to Physical, Psychological and Social Concerns. There has been little research on the validity of these lower-order factors. We examined the concurrent and incremental validity of the CASI and its lower-order factors in a non-clinical sample of 349 children and adolescents. CASI scores predicted symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety disorder subtypes as measured by the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) after accounting for variance due to State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores. CASI Physical Concerns scores incrementally predicted scores on each of the SCAS scales, whereas scores on the Social and Psychological Concerns subscales incrementally predicted scores on conceptually related symptom scales (e.g. CASI Social Concerns scores predicted Social Phobia symptoms). Overall, this study demonstrates that there is added value in measuring AS factors in children and adolescents.
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This study was designed to develop and evaluate a self-report measure of gambling motives. Participants A community-recruited sample of 193 gamblers (70% male; mean age = 35.5 years) were selected to fill two groups according to scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen: probable pathological gamblers (PPG; n = 154) and non-pathological gamblers (NPG; n = 39). Participants completed a novel 15-item measure of gambling motives called the Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ), which was modeled after the original Drinking Motives Questionnaire, as well as a variety of gambling behavior and problem criterion measures. An exploratory principal components analysis revealed three intercorrelated factors tapping enhancement (ENH), coping (COP), and social (SOC) motives, respectively. Each GMQ subscale showed good internal consistency (alphas > 0.80). The PPG group scored higher on all three scales than the NPG group, with larger differences for ENH and COP. In line with the clinical literature, PPG women scored higher than PPG men on the COP subscale but also, unexpectedly, on the SOC subscale. In concurrent validity analyses, ENH consistently predicted greater gambling behavior, and COP and ENH consistently predicted more severe gambling problems. With gambling behavior levels controlled, only COP remained a significant predictor of gambling problem severity. Finally, gender interacted with gambling motives in predicting gambling problem severity: COP predicted gambling problems more strongly in women, whereas ENH predicted gambling problems more strongly in men. The GMQ appears to be a promising tool for both research and clinical applications with problem gamblers.
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In a variety of situations in psychological research, it is desirable to be able to make statistical comparisons between correlation coefficients measured on the same individuals. For example, an experimenter may wish to assess whether two predictors correlate equally with a criterion variable. In another situation, the experimenter may wish to test the hypothesis that an entire matrix of correlations has remained stable over time. The present article reviews the literature on such tests, points out some statistics that should be avoided, and presents a variety of techniques that can be used safely with medium to large samples. Several illustrative numerical examples are provided.
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Using a 34-item self-completion questionnaire relating to a wide variety of smoking motive themes gleaned from previously published work, responses of 175 normal smokers were subjected to factor analysis. Six oblique factors were obtained representing the following six types of smoking: psychosocial, indulgent, sensorimotor, stimulation, addictive and automatic. Previous work suggesting a sedative type of smoking was not confirmed. The most striking finding was a major "pharmacological addiction" dimension which completely separated the stimulation, automatic and addictive factors and their items from the rest. It was these three factors which were correlated (.50, .56, .63 respectively) with cigarette consumption and which differentiated the sample of normal smokers from a criterion sample of 103 addicted heavy smokers attending smoking withdrawal clinics. It is suggested that it may prove more useful to classify smokers according to their position on the single dimension of pharmacological addiction to nicotine rather than in terms of their profiles on the six types of smoking. The interpretation and limitations of factor analysis of questionnaire-type data are discussed.
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An integrated theoretical conceptualization of the cooccurrence of panic disorder and smoking (PDSM) is presented. First, the nature and prevalence of this apparently costly, yet largely unrecognized, co-occurrence of health care problems is described. Second, a theoretical analysis regarding how smoking may negatively impact panic disorder is described. Third, the negative impact of panic disorder on smoking outcomes is discussed. Finally, primary implications of this conceptualization for the research and treatment of individuals with PDSM are elaborated, including the need to assess for smoking among persons with panic disorder and the potential need for specialized treatment approaches.
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Monte Carlo research increasingly seems to favor the use of parallel analysis as a method for determining the "correct" number of factors in factor analysis or components in principal components analysis. We present a regression equation for predicting parallel analysis values used to decide the number of principal components to retain. This equation is appropriate for predicting criterion mean eigenvalues and was derived from random data sets containing between 5 and 50 variables and between 50 and 500 subjects. This relatively simple equation is more accurate for predicting mean eigenvalues from random data matrices with unities in the diagonals than a previously published equation. Moreover, given that the parallel analysis decision rule may be too dependent on chance, our equation is also used to predict the 95th percentile point in distributions of eigenvalues generated from random data matrices. Multiple correlations for all analyses were at least .95. Regression weights for predicting the first 33 mean and 95th percentile eigenvalues are given in easy-to-use tables.
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The purpose of the paper is to describe a more generally applicable method of factor analysis which has no restrictions as regards group factors and which does not restrict the number of general factors that are operative in producing the intercorrelation. Applications of the method to different types of correlation problems are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Electronic computers facilitate greatly carrying out factor analysis. Computers will help in solving the communality problem and the question of the number of factors as well as the question of arbitrary factoring and the problem of rotation. "Cloacal short-cuts will not be necessary and the powerful methods of Guttman will be feasible." A library of programs essential for factor analysis is described, and the use of medium sized computers as the IBM 650 deprecated for factor analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Evaluated a scale for measuring anxiety sensitivity (i.e., the belief that anxiety symptoms have negative consequences), the Child Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI), in 76 7th–9th graders and 33 emotionally disturbed children (aged 8–15 yrs). The CASI had sound psychometric properties for both samples. The view that anxiety sensitivity is a separate concept from that of anxiety frequency and that it is a concept applicable with children was supported. The CASI correlated with measures of fear and anxiety and accounted for variance on the Fear Survey Schedule for Children—Revised and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (Trait form) that could not be explained by a measure of anxiety frequency. The possible role of anxiety sensitivity as a predisposing factor in the development of anxiety disorder in children is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Aims: The aim of the present investigation was to replicate and extend previous work on Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) and shorter abstinence duration among a sample of young adult daily smokers. Methods: Participants were 75 daily smokers who completed measures of smoking history, AS, and negative affectivity. Results: As expected, AS total score was significantly associated with increased risk of early smoking relapse; these effects were above and beyond smoking rate and negative affectivity. Conclusions: Results suggest that elevations in AS may increase the probability of abstinence duration and that this association is not attributable to negative affectivity or smoking rate.
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Positive- and negative-reinforcement consequences of smoking were assessed using a self-report inventory. Data from 429 current smokers (348 women, 81 men) were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis, with concurrent validation of resulting scales in 288 current smokers (235 women, 53 men), controlling for sex and age. The solution with three factors—positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and smoking patterns—provided the clearest and most interpretable factor solution. The Michigan Nicotine Reinforcement Questionnaire (M-NRQ), which yields positive- and negative-reinforcement scales, was developed based on these results. Positive-reinforcement smoking was associated with higher scores on novelty seeking, reward dependence, alcohol dependence, and pleasurable sensations upon early smoking experimentation, and with lower scores on displeasurable sensations and nausea upon early smoking experimentation. Negative-reinforcement smoking was associated with higher scores for nicotine dependence, depression, anxiety, and harm avoidance. The M-NRQ has potential as a diagnostic tool for individualizing behavioral intervention and pharmacotherapy and also may be useful in identifying new phenotypes for genetic research on smoking.
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Cigarette smokers (n = 387) completed a questionnaire measure of smoking motives, and subgroups of this sample provided external validation information. Seven factors emerged from a principal components’analysis: automatic, sedative, addictive, stimulation, psychosocial, indulgent and sensorimotor manipulation. A higher-order principal components analysis revealed the presence of two second-order factors. Inspection of the pattern of correlations between factor scores and criterion variables clearly indicated that the first four factors above and their underlying second-order factor are more closely related to nicotine pharmacology and mood-altering effects of nicotine than the latter three motives and their underlying second-order factor. Moreover, the positive correlations between these pharmacological motives and age, coupled with a negative relationship between age and the non-pharmacological motives, support the description of the smoking career as a progressive transfer of reward from non-pharmacological to pharmacological factors. These findings suggest that self-reported reasons for smoking represent more than bias in verbal report.
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The present article reviews studies bearing on the psychometric characteristics and clinical utility of the Reasons for Smoking Scale (RFS). It is concluded that the instrument possesses adequate psychometric properties such as a stable factor structure, internal consistency, and temporal stability. However, the supportive results of validity studies are weak and inconsistent. Moreover, the instrument appears to possess little clinical utility. Consequently, there exists little empirical evidence to justify its widespread use in clinical practice.
Article
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety-related sensations arising from beliefs that these sensations have harmful physical, psychological, or social consequences. AS is measured using the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), a 16-item self-report questionnaire. Little is known about the origins of AS, although social learning experiences (including sex-role socialization experiences) may be important. The present study examined whether there were gender differences in: (a) the lower- or higher-order factor structure of the ASI; and/or (b) pattern of ASI factor scores. The ASI was completed by 818 university students (290 males; 528 females). Separate principal components analyses on the ASI items of the total sample, males, and females revealed nearly identical lower-order three-factor structures for all groups, with factors pertaining to fears about the anticipated (a) physical, (b) psychological, and (c) social consequences of anxiety. Separate principal components analyses on the lower-order factor scores of the three samples revealed similar unidimensional higher-order solutions for all groups. Gender × AS dimension analyses on ASI lower-order factor scores showed that: females scored higher than males only on the physical concerns factor; females scored higher on the physical concerns factor relative to their scores on the social and psychological concerns factors; and males scored higher on the social and psychological concerns factors relative to their scores on the physical concerns factor. Finally, females scored higher than males on the higher-order factor representing the global AS construct. The present study provides further support for the empirical distinction of the three lower-order dimensions of AS, and additional evidence for the theoretical hierarchical structure of the ASI. Results also suggest that males and females differ on these various AS dimensions in ways consistent with sex role socialization practices.
Article
The present study investigated relations of anxiety sensitivity and other theoretically relevant personality factors to Copper's [Psychological Assessment 6 (1994) 117.] four categories of substance use motivations as applied to teens' use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. A sample of 508 adolescents (238 females, 270 males; mean age=15.1 years) completed the Trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI), and the Intensity and Novelty subscales of the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking. Users of each substance also completed the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R) and/or author-compiled measures for assessing motives for cigarette smoking and marijuana use, respectively. Multiple regression analyses revealed that, in the case of each drug, the block of personality variables predicted “risky” substance use motives (i.e., coping, enhancement, and/or conformity motives) over-and-above demographics. High intensity seeking and low anxiety sensitivity predicted enhancement motives for alcohol use, high anxiety sensitivity predicted conformity motives for alcohol and marijuana use, and high trait anxiety predicted coping motives for alcohol and cigarette use. Moreover, anxiety sensitivity moderated the relation between trait anxiety and coping motives for alcohol and cigarette use: the trait anxiety–coping motives relation was stronger for high, than for low, anxiety sensitive individuals. Implications of the findings for improving substance abuse prevention efforts for youth will be discussed.
Article
The nicotine addiction model is frequently used to explain the fact that light smokers are more successful in quitting smoking than are heavy smokers. According to this view, heavy smokers are more addicted to nicotine and therefore experience more withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and other difficulties when attempting to quit. However, dependence models of smoking have received inconsistent research support. In the present study an alternative explanation is offered, that light smokers employ more change strategies than do heavy smokers. Light (N=72) and heavy (N=247) smokers were compared on 10 processes of change known to be relevant to cessation based on previous studies. The MANOVA results indicated that light smokers outperformed heavy smokers on 4 of the 10 processes, especially on behaviorally oriented processes such as reinforcement management, self-liberation, and counterconditioning. A follow-up discriminant analysis correctly classified 82% of both light and heavy smokers. Although these results do not invalidate nicotine addiction models, they are suggestive and provide additional support for the Transtheoretical Model of problem behavior change.
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A major problem confronting users of principal component analysis is the determination of how many components to extract from an empirical correlation matrix. Using 30 such matrices obtained from marketing and psychology sources, the authors provide a comparative assessment of the extraction capabilities exhibited by five principal component decision rules. These are the Kaiser-Guttman, scree, Bartlett, Horn, and random intercepts procedures. Application of these rules produces highly discrepant results. The random intercepts and Bartlett formulations yield unacceptable component solutions by grossly under- and overfactoring respectively. The Kaiser-Guttman and scree rules performed equivalently, yet revealed tendencies to overfactor. In comparison Horn's test acquitted itself with distinction, and warrants greater attention from applied researchers.
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Expectancies' mediational (control) role in alcohol consumption has been supported by both correlational and experimental evidence (J. Darkes & M. S. Goldman, 1993; M. S. Goldman, P. E. Greenbaum, & J. Darkes, 1997; L. Roehrich & M. S. Goldman, 1995). This study assigned participants (n = 54) to 1 of 2 expectancy challenges targeting the expectancy dimensions of either arousal or sociability identified by B. C. Rather and M. S. Goldman (1994), or to a no-treatment control, to examine the relationship of the structure and process of change in alcohol expectancies. Both challenges resulted in reduced consumption and expectancies immediately posttreatment and 6 weeks later after a short "booster" session. These results may reflect the lack of "discrete" expectancy structure and provide further support for the exploration of these methods as a possible prevention strategy.
Article
In an attempt to determine predictors of success in a multicomponent behavioral treatment program for smoking, data generated from a pre-treatment history questionnaire and treatment records for 100 participants were analyzed by computer. Participants who abstained after eight weeks of treatment were those who had smoked at lower rates and for shorter periods of time, who were less overweight, and who were more compliant with treatment instructions (keeping daily records). In a separate analysis of recidivism, participants who were less likely to have relapsed by the one-year follow-up were those who, prior to treatment, had reported smoking a greater proportion of cigarettes in non-dysphoric (positive or neutral affect) states. The variables which predicted outcome were independent from those which predicted recidivism and vice versa. The research suggests that treatment effectiveness might be enhanced by providing components which take into account individual subject characteristics.