Perceived risks and benefits of quitting smoking in non-treatment seekers

Abstract

Little is known about beliefs about quitting and treatment motivation in non-treatment seeking smokers. One hundred eight-eight daily cigarette smokers not currently motivated to quit smoking completed measures of perceived risks and benefits of quitting and motivation to quit. Self esteem related to quitting was positively related to desire to quit, expected success at quitting, confidence in quitting, and motivation to quit. Greater perceived risks of cravings were related to greater expected difficulty of remaining abstinent, and greater perceived risk of increased negative affect was related to decreased expectation of success at quitting, confidence for quitting, and increased expectation for difficulty remaining abstinent. Greater perceived risk of weight gain was related to being less likely to have a goal of complete abstinence. There were no gender, ethnicity, age, or education differences in the relationship of perceived risks and benefits of quitting and motivation. Knowing the risks and benefits that relate to motivation to quit for non-treatment seeking smokers provides the foundation for targeting this group in campaigns to increase quit motivation.

The perceived risks and benefits of quitting in smokers diagnosed with severe mental illness participating in a smoking cessation intervention: Gender differences and comparison to smokers without mental illness

“…In the general population of smokers not seeking assistance with quitting, these gender differences were almost absent. Males and females in this group had similar perceived risks and benefits of quitting, except for weight gain risks, where females had significantly higher beliefs about this occurring than males [12]. Overall, the non-treatment seeking smokers in the general population had lower ratings of perceived risks and benefits of quitting compared with the treatment seeking sample in the McKee et al study [10].…”

“…Female smokers from our study rated their beliefs about the perceived risk of experiencing negative affect upon quitting similarly to the female smokers in the McKee et al study (P = 0.73) [10]. Table 4 shows the comparison of our sample of smokers with psychosis to the sample from the Weinberger et al study exploring PRBQ responses in smokers from the general population not seeking smoking cessation treatment [12]. It was not possible to make a gender comparison, as the Weinberger et al study only presented results for their sample overall [12].…”

“…Within-subject differences comparing overall ratings of perceived benefits versus risks were examined using paired sample statistics. Comparison of PRBQ scores from our results to those of smokers in the general population also seeking smoking cessation treatment in the McKee et al study and nontreatment seekers in the Weinberger et al study was made using single sample t-tests [10,12].…”

“…Table 4 shows the comparison of our sample of smokers with psychosis to the sample from the Weinberger et al study exploring PRBQ responses in smokers from the general population not seeking smoking cessation treatment [12]. It was not possible to make a gender comparison, as the Weinberger et al study only presented results for their sample overall [12]. Our smokers with psychosis rated their beliefs about the perceived risks and benefits of quitting smoking very similarly to those of non-treatment seeking smokers in the general population.…”

“…Research using the PRBQ has examined gender differences and the overall pattern of responses in people without mental illness seeking smoking cessation treatment [10,11] and in nontreatment seekers [12]. McKee et al found female smokers seeking treatment anticipated significantly more risks (weight gain, increased negative affect, social ostracism and decreased concentration) associated with smoking cessation than males [10].…”