Decisional balance measure for assessing and predicting smoking status.

I. L. Janis and L. Mann (1977) proposed a decisional balance sheet of incentives as a general schema for representing both the cognitive and motivational aspects of human decision making. In the present study, a 24-item paper and pencil measure was constructed to study the decision-making process in smoking cessation among 960 current or previous smokers. Two scales, labeled the Pros of Smoking and the Cons of Smoking, were successful in differentiating between 5 groups representing stages of change in the quitting process. The 2 scales were also successful when employed as predictors of smoking status at a 6-mo follow-up. The decisional balance scale appears to be a powerful construct of potentially wide application in behavior change. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)