Pretreatment Task Persistence Predicts Smoking Cessation Outcome

• Published in: Journal of abnormal psychology (1965) Vol. 112; no. 3; pp. 448 - 456
• Main Authors: Brandon, Thomas H, Herzog, Thaddeus A, Juliano, Laura M, Irvin, Jennifer E, Lazev, Amy B, Nath Simmons, Vani
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-08-2003
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attitude; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Cessation; Client Characteristics; Cross-Sectional Studies; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Drug Abstinence; Drug Dependency; Emotional States; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Human; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nicotine; Persistence; Prediction; Predictors; Prospective Studies; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reinforcement (Psychology); Self-Efficacy; Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Smoking Cessation - methods; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; Smoking Prevention; Task performance; Tobacco Smoking; Treatment Outcomes; Treatments; USA; Human; Affect affectivity; Poison withdrawal; Prediction; Tobacco smoking; Personality; Abstinence; Alkaloid; Treatment; Follow up study; Dependence; Self efficacy; Nicotine
• ISSN: 0021-843X; 2769-7541; 1939-1846; 2769-755X
• DOI: 10.1037/0021-843X.112.3.448

R. Eisenberger's (1992)
learned industriousness theory states that individuals display differing degrees of persistence depending on their history of reinforcement for effortful behavior. These differences may influence the development, maintenance, and cessation of addictive behaviors. In cross-sectional studies,
E. P. Quinn, T. H. Brandon, and A. L. Copeland (1996)
found that cigarette smokers were less persistent than nonsmokers, and
R. A. Brown, C. W. Lejuez, C. W. Kahler, and D. R. Strong (2002)
found that smokers who had previously abstained for 3 months were more persistent than those who had never quit. The present study extended these findings by using a prospective design. A pretreatment measure of task persistence (mirror tracing) completed by 144 smokers predicted sustained abstinence throughout 12 months of follow-up. Moreover, persistence predicted outcome independent of other significant predictors: gender, nicotine dependence, negative affect, and self-efficacy.