The following is a summary of “Interactive associations between abstinence plans and romantic partner conflict and support with cigarette smoking,” published in the February 2023 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence by Bowdring et al.
Most smokers want to stop, but their drive to do so ebbs and flows throughout the day, and successful attempts to quit are uncommon. Effective smoking cessation programs require understanding the psychological factors that modulate the links between daily abstinence goals and actual smoking behavior. A secondary analysis utilized data from a 28-day ecological momentary assessment study among smokers who weren’t making concrete plans to stop (N = 81 people; N = 1,585 days). Researchers looked at the main effect and interaction relationships between the primary predictors (daily abstinence plans and within- and between-person estimates of perceived romantic relationship conflict and support), the number of cigarettes smoked daily, and the moderating role of baseline emotion regulation difficulties.
On days when they had the plan to abstain from smoking, smokers were less likely to light up (β = -0.57, p<.001), with those who reported lower levels of conflict (plan between-person conflict interaction: β =0.98, p<.001) and those who reported higher levels of support (plan x between-person support interaction: β =0.26, p<.001) benefiting the most. On days when participants had more conflict than usual, smoking increased (β =0.07, p<.01), but only when individuals did not have a plan (plan within-person conflict interaction(β =-0.10, p<.05). There was no moderating effect of emotional management issues. This research contributes to knowledge of how adverse social experiences can shape smoking habits. The current research also emphasizes the significance of evaluating the impact of both good and negative aspects of social experiences and individual variability in these characteristics.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871622004938
