[The stress-reducing effect of cigarette smoking and the influence of trait-anxiety on its manifestation].
The purpose of the present study was to clarify the stress-reducing effect of cigarette smoking and the involvement of other factors such as trait-anxiety on the above effect of smoking. The subjects were 32 smokers who met DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence and 16 nonsmokers. The smokers were randomly assigned to a smoking group or a sham-smoking group. Immediately after the subjects performed a laboratory task, the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory was administered for evaluating the levels of state-anxiety and trait-anxiety. The subjects were required to smoke a cigarette in a smoking group, sham-smoke in a sham-smoking group, or take a rest in a nonsmokers's group. After that, the same inventory was again administered. The decrease of state-anxiety in a smoking group was significantly more marked in degree than in a sham-smoking group and was comparable to that in a nonsmokers' group. A stepwise regression analysis revealed that the trait-anxiety levels significantly contributed to a decrease of state-anxiety levels in a smoking group. The present study indicated that cigarette smoking exhibited a stress-reducing effect and that the trait-anxiety levels were related to the effect of smoking.
Katsu
H
H
Department of Psychiatry, Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8, Nishi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8461 Japan.
Miyata
H
H
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*