title: Affective style among smokers: understanding anxiety sensitivity, emotional reactivity, and distress tolerance using biological challenge.
abstract: The present investigation evaluated affective style in terms of anxiety sensitivity, emotional reactivity, and distress tolerance in heavy smokers. Specifically, heavy smokers (> or = 20 cigarettes per day) were partitioned into those who were able to quit for at least 7 days (n = 10) and those who were able to quit for less than 7 days (n = 12). All participants completed measures of anxiety sensitivity and maximum breath-holding duration and then were exposed to a 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air challenge. Results indicated that heavy smokers who had not been able to remain abstinent from smoking for at least 1 week during a quit attempt demonstrated significantly greater cognitive-affective reactivity to the challenge relative to their counterparts but did not differ at a physiological level of analysis. Contrary to our hypotheses, neither anxiety sensitivity scores nor maximum breath-holding duration significantly differed between the groups. These findings are discussed in relation to better understanding affective style among heavy smokers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405-0134, USA. m_zvolen@dewey.uvm.edu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zvolensky
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Feldner
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Eifert
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological