Talking to Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans About Tobacco Use

Widome, Rachel; Joseph, Anne M.; Polusny, Melissa A.; Chlebeck, Bernadette; Brock, Betsy; Gulden, Ashley; Fu, Steven S.

doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr028

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Initiation and increases in tobacco use during deployment were associated with exposure to warfare and its aftermath in both men and women. These findings are consistent with qualitative studies reporting that soldiers use tobacco to calm down after stressful combat experiences (Widome et al, 2011). They also mirror associations between deployment-related increases in tobacco use and deployment stress observed by Hermes et al (2012), and between tobacco use increases and stress among civilians (Pomerleau & Pomerleau, 1991).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Deployment stress, tobacco use, and postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder: Gender differences.

Japuntich

Gregor

Pineles

et al. 2016

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We found a dose-dependent relationship between deployment stress and adoption and escalation of tobacco use; the stressors that provoked initiation and escalation of tobacco use differed by gender. Continued tobacco use after deployment was associated with PTSD in women suggesting that women used tobacco more selectively than men to regulate negative affect. Implications of this work are that training before combat and during combat on healthy means of coping with deployment stress is needed to prevent tobacco use. For women, reducing harassment stress during deployment and early treatment of acute stress and PTSD during and soon after deployment may prevent intractable tobacco use.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Deployment stress, tobacco use, and postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder: Gender differences.

Japuntich

Gregor

Pineles

et al. 2016

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Veterans with high needs for sensation seeking may consequently engage in gaming as a way of fulfilling their need for action/excitement as well as to cope with potential boredom and loneliness after homecoming. Previously, greater levels of boredom among veterans have been linked to tobacco use (McClernon et al 2013;Widome et al 2011), risky drinking (McDevitt-Murphy et al 2015, and drug abuse (Mintz et al 1979), and it has been proposed that the experience of boredom motivates individuals to engage in these behaviors that raise the level of arousal in order to escape from the negative state of boredom (Blaszczynski and Nower 2002;Mercer and Eastwood 2010;Milosevic and Ledgerwood 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Gaming Behavior among Military Peacekeepers – Exploring the Role of Boredom and Loneliness in Relation to Gaming Problems

Myrseth

Olsen

Borud

et al. 2017

Journal of Military Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of the current study was to explore gaming problems in post-deployment veterans and to investigate whether boredom and loneliness can predict levels of gaming problems. The general well-being of veterans post their deployments to war zones is linked to an array of negative health consequences, and veterans may be at risk for developing gaming problems after homecomings. Problems that may be related to engagement in gaming include coping with negative emotions, such as boredom and loneliness, which are often faced by homecoming veterans as well. The sample in this study comprised Afghanistan veterans (N = 246), with a mean age of 37.5 years (standard deviation = 9.6 years), and 8.8% of the veterans showed symptoms indicative of problem gaming. This is not higher than that found in the general adult population in Norway. Logistic regression analyses showed that boredom proneness (lack of internal stimulation) and enhancement motivation were independent significant predictors of gaming problems, after controlling for age, gender, coping motivation, social motivation, anxiety, depression, loneliness, lack of external stimulation, hazardous drinking, and combat exposure. These factors accounted for as much as 65.8% of the variance in gaming problem status. We conclude that veterans who are highly motivated by enhancement motives and score low on lack of internal stimulation may be prone to developing gaming problems.

show abstract

“…Previous studies have proved that soldiers work in stressful environments, so they are prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which increases the chances and risks of smoking for soldiers [17,18]. In addition, military personnel describe the use of tobacco as a way to reduce and manage stress, anger, and boredom [19], meaning military personnel are more likely to smoke than civilians [20]. Smoking is a common health problem faced by military personnel all over the world (e.g., in Uganda, USA, and Australia).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why It Is Difficult for Military Personnel to Quit Smoking: From the Perspective of Compensatory Health Beliefs

Au-Yeung

Chao

Hsu

2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Compensatory health beliefs are barriers to healthy behavior. In an effort to understand how the prevalence of these beliefs can be reduced in individuals, 376 valid questionnaires were collected from combat troops in Taiwan. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. It was found that positive attitudes towards smoking cessation had significant negative effects on compensatory health beliefs, while negative attitudes towards smoking cessation significantly enhanced the level of compensatory health beliefs. The motivation for smoking cessation was also found to reinforce the negative effect of positive attitudes towards compensatory health beliefs, while it did not have any significant effect on the relationship between negative attitudes and compensatory health beliefs. Three subconstructs of compensatory health beliefs (exercise, eating habits, and amount of smoking) were found to have simultaneous effects for military personnel. Finally, this study explored the causes of the above-mentioned phenomena, and measures that could reduce the prevalence of compensatory health beliefs were suggested.

show abstract

Talking to Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans About Tobacco Use

Cited by 12 publications

References 12 publications

Deployment stress, tobacco use, and postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder: Gender differences.

Deployment stress, tobacco use, and postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder: Gender differences.

Predictors of Gaming Behavior among Military Peacekeepers – Exploring the Role of Boredom and Loneliness in Relation to Gaming Problems

Why It Is Difficult for Military Personnel to Quit Smoking: From the Perspective of Compensatory Health Beliefs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About