Development and preliminary evaluation of a measure of support provided to a smoker among young adults.
Most studies indicate a positive association between social support and smoking cessation. However, clinic-based interventions to increase support for stopping smoking have had limited success. Prior research has emphasized the smoker's perceptions of support received for smoking cessation while less attention has focused on support persons' reports of supportive behaviors provided to a smoker. This study examined select psychometric properties of the Support Provided Measure (SPM), a self-report questionnaire designed by the investigative team to assess supportive behaviors provided to a smoker. The SPM was administered to a college sample (N=771; 67% female) of young adults, aged 18 to 24 years, who reported knowing a smoker whom they thought should quit smoking. Results indicate that, in this sample, the SPM has a two-factor structure with good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.77) and appears to assess a wide range of individual differences in the provision of support. Demographic correlates associated with SPM scores are described and suggestions for future research are offered.
Thomas
Janet L
JL
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Mail Stop 1008; University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66160, United States. jthomas2@kumc.edu
Patten
Christi A
CA
Decker
Paul A
PA
Croghan
Ivana T
IT
Cowles
Margaret L
ML
Bronars
Carrie A
CA
Nirelli
Liza M
LM
Offord
Kenneth P
KP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires