From adolescence to adulthood: Age-related changes in beliefs about cigarette smoking in a Midwestern community sample.

The current study used a cohort-sequential design to examine age-related changes in health-relevant beliefs from the middle school years through age 37 in a large, midwestern, community sample (N?=?8,556). Results suggest systematic age-related changes such that beliefs in the personalized risks of smoking declined in middle school and then increased, beliefs in generalized health risks increased beginning in the middle school years, and values placed on health as an outcome decreased in the high school years and then increased. These findings suggest that intervention programs must counter declining personalized risk perceptions among middle school students and declining values placed on health among high school age students, (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of risk for different stages of adolescent smoking in a biracial sample

This investigation was designed to identify the risk factors associated with different stages of cigarette use in a large biracial adolescent sample. A questionnaire assessing smoking habits and variables thought to be related to smoking was administered to 6,967 7th graders. Analysis revealed that the best predictor of experimentation with cigarettes was the perception that they were easily available. Regular smoking appeared to be heavily influenced by cost. Social influences contributed to both experimental and regular smoking, but the impact of social models varied with ethnicity and gender. Analysis further revealed that weight-related variables were closely tied to regular smoking. Implications of the findings for smoking prevention programs are discussed.     

Historical changes in cigarette smoking and smoking-related beliefs after 2 decades in a midwestern community.

Rates of cigarette smoking and smoking-related beliefs in 1980 and 2001 among 7th-11th graders in a midwestern community were compared. Smoking was less prevalent in 2001 than in 1980, with the greatest declines in experimental smoking and a smaller drop in regular smoking. Beliefs about smoking generally became more negative. Adolescents (particularly nonsmokers) viewed smoking as more addictive and as having more negative social consequences in 2001 than in 1980 and had more negative attitudes toward smoking in 2001. These results were replicated among parent-child pairs in which parents were measured when they were adolescents between 1980 and 1983 and their children were measured in 2001. These beliefs and attitudes partially mediated the effects of time on smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a midwestern community sample: Multiple trajectories and their psychosocial correlates.

Previous research on the natural history of smoking has focused on overall group trajectories without considering the possibility of risk subgroup variation. To address this limitation, the authors of the present study aimed to identify subgroups with varying trajectories of smoking behavior. The authors accomplished this within a cohort-sequential study of a large community sample (N?=?8,556) with measurements spanning ages 11–31. After removing 2 a priori groups (abstainers and erratics), the authors empirically identified 4 trajectory groups—early stable smokers, late stable smokers, experimenters, and quitters—and psychosocial variables from adolescence and young adulthood were significantly distinguished among them. Given recent advances in quantitative methods, it is now feasible to consider subgroups of trajectories within an overall longitudinal design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge and beliefs of dentists regarding temporomandibular disorders and chronic pain

To assess the knowledge and beliefs of practicing dentists regarding temporomandibular disorders and chronic pain, a random sample of dentists in the Kansas City metropolitan area was surveyed. A survey instrument examining knowledge and beliefs in four domains (psychophysiological, psychiatric disorders, chronic pain, and pathophysiology) was used. The responses of the practicing dentists were compared to the responses of panels of experts. Results indicated that dentists generally agreed with experts in the psychophysiological and psychiatric disorders domains but disagreed with the experts in the chronic pain and pathophysiology domains. Specialists and general dentists did not differ from one another in their responses. The findings partially replicate an earlier, similar survey of dentists in the Seattle, Washington, area. The findings suggest that the role of psychiatric disorders and psychophysiologic factors in the etiology of temporomandibular disorders is widely acknowledged by practicing dentists. However, there is considerable discrepancy between practicing dentists and temporomandibular disorder experts on the pathophysiology of temporomandibular disorders and how best to diagnose and treat these chronic conditions.     

Multiple trajectories of cigarette smoking and the intergenerational transmission of smoking: A multigenerational, longitudinal study of a midwestern community sample.

Objective: To investigate the relation between developmental phenotypes of parental smoking (trajectories of smoking from adolescence to adulthood) and the intergenerational transmission of smoking to their adolescent children. Design: A longitudinal, multigenerational study of a midwestern community sample followed individuals from adolescence into adulthood and was combined with Web-based assessment of participants' spouses and adolescent children. Mixture modeling identified multiple trajectories of smoking, and path analyses related these trajectories to adolescents' smoking (beyond both parents' current smoking). Potential mediations were parental education and adolescents' personality characteristics. Main Outcome Measure: The outcome measure was adolescent smoking. Results: A parent's smoking trajectory had a unique effect on their adolescent's smoking, beyond both parents' current smoking and the parent's educational attainment. However, although adolescents' personality characteristics were related both to adolescent smoking and to their parents' smoking, these characteristics could not explain the effects of the parent's smoking trajectory. Conclusion: Parents whose smoking had an early onset, steep acceleration, high levels of smoking, and persistence over time had the highest risk for intergenerational transmission of smoking to their adolescent children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's beliefs about familiar and unfamiliar peers in relation to their sociometric status.

Examined children's general beliefs about familiar and unfamiliar peers in relationship to their sociometric status and their experience with parents. In the initial phase involving 886 4th and 5th graders, submissive rejected children but not aggressive rejected children reported less positive beliefs about peers than average status children. In the 2nd portion, which included 77 boys and girls from the larger sample, no relationship between children's sociometric status and their beliefs about unfamiliar peers was found. Beliefs about unfamiliar peers were related, however, to children's perception of the amount of acceptance and support they received from parents. Implications of these findings for children's social competence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trait anxiety and beliefs regarding danger and threat to self-esteem.

Administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to 46 Ss, who were then asked to rate the degree of threat or danger involved in several hypothetical situations. Results support R. Lazurus' theory that chronic or dispositional anxiety is significantly related to beliefs that the environment is physically dangerous and threatening to self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prospective relationships between smoking and weight in a young, biracial cohort: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study

This study examined the relationship between smoking status and weight change from baseline to Year 7 in a large biracial cohort, the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study. Unadjusted for covariates, only male smokers weighed less than nonsmokers, with no effect among women. Adjusted for covariates, male and female smokers weighed less than nonsmokers at baseline, adjusted for age, total energy intake, alcohol intake, and physical fitness. Over the 7-year follow-up, all smoking status groups gained weight, including continuous smokers and initiators. Weight gain was greatest among those who quit smoking. Weight gain attributable to smoking cessation was 4.2 kg for Whites and 6.6 kg for Blacks. Smoking had a small weight-attenuating effect on Blacks. No such effects, however, were observed among Whites. These results suggest, at least in younger smokers, that smoking has minimal impact on body weight.     

Individual differences in cardiovascular reactions to stress and cigarette smoking.

Examined the stability of cardiovascular (CDV) reactions to psychological stress and cigarette smoking and the extent to which CDV actions to stress were predictive of CDV reactions to smoking. 26 male Ss were given an initial test involving 2 repetitions of mental arithmetic stress and paced smoking while blood pressure and heart rate were measured. Ss were retested 2 mo later in the same paradigm. Large and stable individual differences were observed in CDV reactivity to both stress and smoking. For systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but not heart rate, reactions to stress were modestly correlated with reactions to cigarette smoking, suggesting that levels of reactivity to cigarette smoking may have significance for coronary heart disease and blood pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning of environmental cues to cigarette smoking.

Smoking-related cues tend to produce urges and cardiac responses in smokers. This reactivity has been assumed to reflect prior classical conditioning. However, little direct evidence exists supporting the notion that environmental cues can be classically conditioned to cigarette smoking. In this study, 8 smokers received 22 daily trials during which 2 cue complexes (comprising visual, olfactory, and auditory stimuli) were paired with smoking (CS+ trials) and not smoking (CS– trials). Reactivity to the environmental cues, as measured by self-report of urge and pulse rate, increased across CS+ trials, diverging from responses in the CS– trials. Reactivity was stronger among light smokers and those who verbalized awareness of smoking contingencies. Findings indicate that environmental cues can be classically conditioned to smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring and reactivity in the modification of cigarette smoking.

The reactive effects of self-monitoring (SM) as a function of varying the specific nature of the target behavior and the perceived negative consequences of the behavior were investigated with 40 20–55 yr old chronic smokers (at least 15 cigarettes/day for 2 yrs). Ss were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions from stratified blocks based on initial smoking rates: (a) SM nicotine plus health hazard information; (b) SM nicotine with no health hazard information; (c) SM cigarettes plus health information; and (d) SM cigarettes with no health information. Ss self-monitored during a 4-wk nondemand phase and during a 4-wk treatment phase or until they quit smoking. The 2 nicotine SM groups showed greater reactivity. There were no differences among groups as a function of exposure to health hazard information. Results are discussed in relation to models of self-control and previous investigations of other parameters of reactive SM. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hostility, cigarette smoking, and responses to a lab-based social stressor.

High-trait hostility is associated with persistent cigarette smoking. To better understand mechanisms that may account for this association, we examined the effects of acute smoking abstinence and delayed versus immediate smoking reinstatement on responses to a social stressor among 48 low hostile (LH) and 48 high hostile (HH) smokers. Participants completed two laboratory sessions, one before which they had smoked ad lib and one before which they had abstained for the prior 12 hr. During each session, participants completed a stressful speaking task and then smoked immediately after the stressor or after a 15-min delay. The effect of immediate versus delayed smoking reinstatement on recovery in negative mood was significantly moderated by hostility. When reinstatement was delayed, HH participants showed significant increases in negative mood over time, whereas LH participants showed little change. When reinstatement was immediate, HH and LH smokers showed similar significant decreases in negative mood. Smoking abstinence did not moderate hostility effects. Cigarette smoking may prevent continuing increases in negative mood after social stress in HH smokers, which may partially explain their low rates of quitting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment and the prevention of adolescent cigarette smoking.

Tested the effects of commitment (CM) to nonsmoking on resistance to arguments favoring cigarette smoking. In Exp I, 37 7th graders were assigned to a public CM condition, in which they were audiotaped as they explained why they would not become smokers, or to information control or no-treatment conditions. In Exp II, 51 7th graders participated in conditions of (1) high CM, in which they were given high choice to write and publicly audiotape a speech about why smoking is bad; (2) low CM, in which they were given low choice to write an anonymous essay about why smoking is bad; or to (3) a no-treatment condition. Ss then listened to arguments favoring smoking. CM failed to enhance resistance to persuasion in either experiment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge and beliefs about confidentiality in psychotherapy.

Surveyed 200 high school students, 308 undergraduate psychology students, 34 former clients from a community mental health center, and 40 former clients from a university counseling center regarding their knowledge of and attitudes toward confidentiality in therapy. Overall results show that the vast majority of Ss viewed confidentiality as an all-encompassing, superordinate mandate for the psychology profession and that most Ss wanted to be told of the limitations to confidentiality but would have limited therapeutic communications when told. It is concluded that the general population, including those who have been in therapy, does not have an accurate perception of current ethical limitations regarding confidentiality in psychotherapy. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cigarette smoking and submaximal exercise test duration in a biracial population of young adults: the CARDIA study

Symptom-limited, graded exercise treadmill testing was performed by 4,968 white and black adults, ages 18-30 yr, during the baseline examination for the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Compared with nonsmokers, the mean exercise test duration of smokers was 29-64 s shorter depending on race/gender group (all P < 0.001), but mean duration to heart rate 130 (beats.min-1) ranged from 20-50 s longer (P < 0.05). In each race/gender group, test duration to heart rates up to 150 was 15-35 s longer (P < 0.05) in smokers than in nonsmokers after adjustment for age, sum of skinfolds, hemoglobin, and physical activity score. The mean maximum heart rate was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers (difference ranging from 6.7 beats.min-1 in white men to 11.2 beats.min-1 lower in black women, P < 0.001), although maximum rating of perceived exertion was nearly identical in smokers and nonsmokers. Chronic smoking appears to blunt the heart rate response to exercise, so that exercise duration to submaximal heart rates is increased even though maximal performance is impaired. This may result from downloading of beta-receptors caused by smoking. Smoking status should be considered in the evaluation of physical fitness data utilizing submaximal test protocols, or else the fitness of smokers relative to nonsmokers is likely to be overestimated.     

The smoking addiction of pregnant women and the consequences on their offspring's intellectual development

Many scientists have studied the effects of smoking by pregnant women on intrauterine development. Because nicotine and other toxic substances in cigarette smoke are not stopped by the placental barrier, there is a risk that the development of the child could be hindered. It has been shown, for instance, that babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have lower size and weight at birth. Few authors have studied the consequences a mother's pre-natal smoking may have on the intellectual development of her child. We compared two samples of children, aged 4 to 5, and aged 6 to 7 (40 children in total), whose mothers had smoked during pregnancy, with two samples of 40 children of the same ages whose mothers had not smoked. We tested them on the Wechsler scale. The social and cultural levels were equivalent. We found a difference of more than 15 IQ points in favor of the children of nonsmoking mothers. These results permit us to suppose that smoking during pregnancy hinders the intellectual development of the child.     

Use of sensory deprivation in facilitating the reduction of cigarette smoking.

12 mo after a 24-hr period in a socially isolated, monotonous environment, 37 smokers aged 25-55 had reduced their rate of cigarette smoking by an average of 48%, compared with 16% for 35 control Ss. A smaller sample reported similar results at the end of 24 mo. A set of antismoking messages had no permanent effect. Sensory deprivation can apparently be used as a powerful facilitator of long-term behavioral change in human beings. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cigarette smoking and smoking deprivation on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance.

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance was assessed in 24 heavy smokers and 12 nonsmokers recruited from universities in the US and Japan. Half of the smokers performed the WCST after abstaining from tobacco for 12 hrs, whereas the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette of their preferred brand immediately before the test. Nonsmokers did not smoke. The WCST was administered by computer, first with standard instructions and then a 2nd time with abbreviated instructions that specified the 3 sorting criteria. Results from the 2nd run indicated that abstinent smokers made significantly more perseverative responses and errors than did nonsmokers or smoking smokers. Results expand on previous findings of effects of smoking deprivation on human cognitive performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)