Subjective well-being, personality, demographic variables, and American state differences in smoking prevalence.
BACKGROUND
The present study was conducted to determine relations between smoking prevalence, subjective well-being, and the Big Five personality variables at the American state level.


METHODS
State smoking prevalence was based on the responses of more than 350,000 adults interviewed in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2008. Subjective well-being was based on the state-aggregated responses of 353,039 adults to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index phone interviews during 2008. Big Five variables were based on the state-aggregated responses of 619,397 persons to an Internet survey between 1999 and 2005, which included the 44-item Big Five Inventory.


RESULTS
Well-being and smoking prevalence were negatively correlated and remained so when state Big Five, socioeconomic status (SES), White population percent, urban population percent, and median age were controlled in a partial correlation. Hierarchical and stepwise multiple regressions showed (a) that SES and neuroticism were the prime predictors of well-being, (b) that well-being was the prime predictor of smoking prevalence, and (c) that openness to experience was the sole personality or demographic variable to account for differences in smoking prevalence when well-being was controlled, and it explained very little of the remaining variance.


CONCLUSIONS
Applied implications for state-tailored attempts to reduce smoking are briefly discussed, and suggestions for future research directions are put forward.
McCann
Stewart J H
SJ
Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University, P.O. Box 5300, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P6L2, Canada. stewart_mccann@cbu.ca
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult