Andrew W. Hertel

Specifying the determinants of the initiation and maintenance of behavior change: An examination of self-efficacy, satisfaction, and smoking cessation

Using data from smokers (N = 591) who enrolled in an 8-week smoking cessation program and were then followed for 15 months, the authors tested the thesis that self-efficacy guides the decision to initiate smoking cessation but that satisfaction with the outcomes afforded by quitting guides the decision to maintain cessation. Measures of self-efficacy and satisfaction assessed at the end of the program, 2 months, and 9 months were used to predict quit status at 2, 9, and 15 months, respectively. At each point, participants were categorized as either initiators or maintainers on the basis of their pattern of cessation behavior. Across time, self-efficacy predicted future quit status for initiators, whereas satisfaction generally predicted future quit status for maintainers. Implications for models of behavior change and behavioral interventions are discussed.

Cigar, cigarillo, and little cigar use among current cigarette-smoking adolescents.

INTRODUCTION Cigar, cigarillo, and little cigar (CCLC) use is prevalent among adolescents, particularly among those who smoke cigarettes. METHODS Using data from a longitudinal study of smoking patterns among adolescents, we examined differences between CCLC users (ever and past 30 days) and nonusers (never and not in the past 30 days) among adolescents who smoked a cigarette in the last month (n = 486). RESULTS In our sample, 76.7% reported ever trying CCLC and 40.7% reported past month CCLC use. Bivariate analyses showed that CCLC users differed from nonusers in terms of demographics, other forms of tobacco use, other substance use, and mental health. Multivariate logistic regression analyses found that both ever and past 30-day CCLC use were strongly associated with being male and concurrent use of hookah. Ever CCLC use was also strongly associated with recent use of alcohol, and past 30-day CCLC use was strongly associated with antisocial behavior. After controlling for the number of days on which cigarettes were smoked in the past 30 days, past 30-day CCLC use was associated with most other forms of tobacco use, other substance use, and mental health, but not with number of cigarettes smoked in the past month and nicotine dependence. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that CCLC use is high among adolescent cigarette users and is associated with a variety of negative correlates. Importantly, many of these relationships are not accounted for by the adolescents level of cigarette use. Further characterizing CCLC use will be important for developing more targeted and tailored interventions.

Smoker identity and smoking escalation among adolescents

OBJECTIVE We investigated whether there is a positive, unique relation between smoker identity and smoking escalation. METHODS Adolescents from the Chicago area (n = 1263) completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires and in-person interviews at baseline, 6 months, 15 months, and 24 months of a longitudinal study. Smoking behavior, smoker identity, nicotine dependence, smoking expectancies, smoking motives, and novelty seeking were assessed. RESULTS There was a unique relation between smoker identity and smoking escalation. The more that adolescents thought smoking was a defining aspect of who they were, the more likely their smoking escalated. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that smoker identity could be targeted for preventing escalation. Research on its development is needed.

Avoidance Goals Can Be Beneficial: A Look at Smoking Cessation

This research examined the approach and avoidance goals that people hold when attempting to quit smoking and the behavioral consequences of holding these goals. We predicted that in the domain of smoking cessation, avoidance goals would be beneficial. A community sample of smokers (N = 591) reported their personal goals for quitting smoking prior to participating in an 8-week smoking cessation program. We found that smokers reported a greater percentage of avoidance goals than previously found in educational settings and smokers with a higher proportion of avoidance goals were more likely to quit smoking. The beneficial effect of avoidance goals was largely due to a particular type of avoidance goal, one in which the person is trying to cure a current negative state. This research highlights the value of studying the consequences of avoidance goals in multiple contexts to examine the impact of different types of avoidance goals.

Longitudinal associations between people's cessation-related experiences and their satisfaction with cessation.

We sought to determine whether different social, psychological, emotional, and physiological experiences associated with quitting smoking related to peoples satisfaction with cessation systematically, and whether the strength of the relations changes at different points during the cessation process and for different people (e.g., optimists). Using data from smokers enrolled in a cessation program, we used mixed models to assess the average longitudinal relation between peoples experiences and satisfaction measured at seven time points and whether the relations were moderated by key variables. Eight of nine experiences were related to peoples satisfaction (ps < 0.05) and the models accounted for 39–44% of the within-person variance in satisfaction. Current smoking behavior was more strongly related to peoples satisfaction during their early efforts to quit, whereas some experiences (e.g., feedback from others) had a stronger relation with satisfaction during peoples later efforts to quit or maintain abstinence (ps < 0.05). Individual differences in optimism and prior cessation experience moderated some of the relations (ps < 0.05). The findings mark the first evidence of factors that might influence how people determine their satisfaction with smoking cessation. The implications for tailoring interventions and potentially increasing the likelihood that people maintain abstinence are discussed.

Smoker Identity Development Among Adolescents Who Smoke

Adolescents who smoke are more likely to escalate their smoking frequency if they believe smoking is self-defining. Knowing factors that are associated with development of a smoker identity among adolescents who smoke may help to identify who will become a regular smoker. We investigated whether smoker identity development is associated with internal and external motives for smoking. For comparison, we also investigated whether social smoker identity development is associated with internal and external motives for smoking. Adolescents who smoke (n = 292) completed measures of smoker and social smoker identity, internal motives for smoking (negative affect coping, positive affect enhancement), and external motives for smoking (social fit) at baseline, 6-, 15-, and 24-month assessments of an ongoing longitudinal study of smoking patterns. We examined whether change in smoker and social smoker identity from 6 to 24 months was associated with change in motives at earlier assessment waves. We also explored whether gender moderated these relationships. Increases in negative affect coping motives were associated with smoker identity development among both males and females. Increases in social motives were associated with smoker identity development among males, and increases in negative affect coping motives were associated with social smoker identity development among females. Smoker and social smoker identities are signaled by negative affect coping as well as social motives for smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record

The role of rational and experiential processing in influencing the framing effect

ABSTRACT Research on individual differences and the framing effect has focused primarily on how variability in rational processing influences choice. However, we propose that measuring only rational processing presents an incomplete picture of how participants are responding to framed options, as orthogonal individual differences in experiential processing might be relevant. In two studies, we utilize the Rational Experiential Inventory, which captures individual differences in rational and experiential processing, to investigate how both processing types influence decisions. Our results show that differences in experiential processing, but not rational processing, moderated the effect of frame on choice. We suggest that future research should more closely examine the influence of experiential processing on making decisions, to gain a broader understanding of the conditions that contribute to the framing effect.

Understanding the framing effect: do affective responses to decision options mediate the influence of frame on choice?

Little research has examined how gain- and loss-framed options influence participants’ affective states. In the current paper, we present two studies that measure affective responses to framed options to identify a potential mediator of the relation between frame and choice. We found that participants reported more positive responses after reading gain-framed options that presented a certain outcome compared to loss-framed options that presented a certain outcome, consistent with the choice patterns of the framing effect. We also found that framing effects were mediated by affective evaluation of the options. We suggest future researchers continue to assess the influence of affective response on evaluating options and making decisions.

Sources of Self-Concept Clarity

How we define ourselves shapes our cognition, affect, behavior, and motivation. Optimal functioning is in part contingent on having a clear sense of ourselves (Campbell et al. J Person Soc Psychol 70:141–156, 1996). But what shapes self-concept clarity? In the current chapter, I provide an overview of findings about sources of self-concept clarity. By and large, findings to date indicate effects of self-confirmation, anxiety, and uncertainty on self-concept clarity. I also provide recommendations for future investigations, with an eye toward potential moderators of the effects of self-confirmation, anxiety, and uncertainty on self-concept clarity (including the nature of self-beliefs, trait and state self-concept clarity, and self-focus) as well as additional potential antecedents of self-concept clarity (including trait self-concept clarity, situational stability, interpersonal power, group identification, reflected appraisals, social acceptance, and mood). I attend to the distinction between self-concept clarity and self-esteem, and I consider explanations of self-concept clarity from extensions of relevant existing theory [including distinctiveness hypothesis (McGuire and Padawer-Singer, J Person Soc Psychol 33:743–754, 1976), Identity Consolidation Theory (McGregor, Defensive zeal: compensatory conviction about attitudes, values, goals, groups, and self-definition in the face of personal uncertainty. In: Spencer S, Fein S, Zanna M (eds) Motivated social perception: the Ontario symposium, vol 9, pp 73–92. Erlbaum, Mahwah, 2003), Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (Brewer, Optimal distinctiveness theory: its history and development. In: Van Lange PAM, Kruglanski AW, Higgins ET (eds) Handbook of theories of social psychology, vol 2, pp 81–98. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2012), Self-Verification Theory (Swann, Self-verification: brining social reality into harmony with the self. In: Suls J, Greenwald AG (eds) Social psychological perspectives on the self, vol 2, pp 33–66. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1983), Sociometer Theory (Leary, Sociometer theory. In: Van Lange PAM, Kruglanski AW, Higgins ET (eds) Handbook of theories of social psychology, vol 2, pp 141–159. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2012; Leary and Baumeister, The nature and function of self-esteem: sociometer theory. In: Zanna MP (ed) Advances in experimental social psychology, vol 32, pp 1–62. Academic Press, San Diego, 2000), Terror Management Theory (Greenberg and Arndt, Terror management theory. In: Van Lange PAM, Kruglanski AW, Higgins ET (eds) Handbook of theories of social psychology, vol 1, pp 398–415. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2012; Greenberg et al., The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: a terror management theory. In: Baumester RF (ed) Public self and private self, pp 189–212. Springer, New York, 1986), Uncertainty-Identity Theory (Hogg, Uncertainty-identity theory. In: Zanna MP (ed) Advances in experimental social psychology, vol 39, pp 69–126.Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, 2007; Uncertainty-identity theory. In Van Lange PAM, Kruglanski AW, Higgins ET (eds) Handbook of theories of social psychology, vol 2, pp 62–80. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, 2012)].