Smoking Behavior

Research into sociodemographic and psychological factors associated with smoking is then reviewed. Treatment approaches aimed at addressing and changing the behavior are then described and evaluated in terms of effectiveness levels.

Health Behavior, Smoking, and Disease

Bloomquist (1994) defines health behaviors as actions that provide individual and societal well-being through promoting harmonious interaction of body, mind, and spirit. According to Mathre (1994), smoking behavior clearly does not promote the health of the individual or society. Indeed, one in six deaths in the United States are attributed to cigarette smoking (Mathre, 1994). Further, approximately 434,000 deaths per year are associated with complications arising from the negative effects of cigarette smoking on the body (Mathre, 1994).

The health consequences arising from smoking not only affect the individual but society as well. In this regard, Mathre (1994) reports that diseases and health problems directly attributable to smoking account for $22 billion per year in health care costs and $43 billion per year in lost productivity.

In terms of the specific diseases associated with smoking, cancer is cons

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igarettes smoked, amount inhaled and amount of cigarettes smoked was also obtained. Six main factors were extracted by principal-factor analysis, which were related respectively to situations involving preparatory activity, attentional stress, neutral relaxation conditions, unpleasant (anxiety) and pleasant (excited) emotional stress, and social versus isolated activity. Subjects who scored high on neuroticism tended to smoke more when experiencing unpleasant emotions. Findings also indicated that older subjects smoked predominantly in pleasant relaxing conditions and that extroverts and low-activity situational smokers reported inhaling more. Based on findings, a model of smoker motivation was developed which suggested that both pharmacological and psychological factors contributed to habit maintenance. Three basic motivational types of smokers were identified: (1) high-stress smokers for whom smoking is a secondary activity and who rely on smoking to form a minor distraction from their current task; (2) low-activity smokers who wish to act or change their current affective state in some way and who rely on pharmacological factors; and (3) neutral relaxation smokers for whom smoking is a pleasurable activity in its own righ
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Approximate Word count = 2447
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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