title: Anxiety sensitivity as a predictor of acute subjective effects of smoking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., AS; the degree to which one believes that anxiety and its related sensations are harmful) is a stable trait that is associated with habitual smoking. Yet, the mechanisms linking AS and smoking are unclear. A promising hypothesis is that high-AS individuals are more sensitive to the acute subjective reinforcing effects of smoking and are, therefore, more prone to tobacco dependence. This study examined trait AS as a predictor of several subjective effects of cigarette smoking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult non-treatment-seeking smokers (N = 87; 10+ cigarettes/day) completed a measure of AS during a baseline session. Prior to a subsequent experimental session, participants were asked to smoke normally before their appointment. At the outset of that visit, each participant smoked a single cigarette of their preferred brand in the laboratory. Self-report measures of affect and cigarette craving were completed before and after smoking, and post-cigarette subjective effect ratings were provided.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AS predicted greater increases in positive affect from pre- to post-cigarette (β = .30, p = .006) as well as greater smoking satisfaction and psychological reward (β = .23 to .48, ps < .03). Each of these effects remained statistically significant after adjusting for anxiety symptom severity. AS did not predict the degree of negative affect and craving suppression or post-cigarette aversive effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that positive reinforcement mechanisms may be particularly salient etiological processes that maintain smoking in high-AS individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krajisnik
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Truong
authors.forename: Nadra E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Lisha
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trujillo
authors.forename: Jodie B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Christopher W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Kahler
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zvolensky
authors.forename: Adam M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Leventhal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology*