Researchers from Arizona State University and Indiana University found that after a 6-year period, smokers who succeeded in quitting reported less stress and did not experience increases in negative moods, such as depression or nervousness. Successful quitters also came to view smoking as being less beneficial psychologically and more harmful to their health compared to when they were smokers. Quitters who relapsed to smoking did not report additional stress—other than that associated with being a smoker. However, relapsers altered their perceptions of smoking to view it as less harmful to their health, which ultimately may undermine their decision to try again to quit in the future.
In 1993 and 1999, the researchers surveyed 3,077 participants from an on-going longitudinal study about tobacco use. Participants were asked questions about their smoking habits and plans to quit, their beliefs about the psychological and health effects of smoking, and their stress. They were then classified as smokers, non-smokers, successful quitters (abstinent from smoking for at least 1 year), or relapsers (ex-smoker in 1993, smoker in 1999).
WHAT IT MEANS: These findings suggest that there are psychological benefits of quitting and that relapsers should be encouraged to continue their efforts at smoking cessation. However, relapsers’ declining perceptions of health risk must be changed to help them continue to try to quit in the future.
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This study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was published by Dr. Laurie Chassin in the September, 2002 issue of Health Psychology.
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