title: Examining an underlying mechanism between perceived stress and smoking cessation-related outcomes.
abstract: The mediational role of negative reinforcement smoking outcome expectancies in the relation between perceived stress and (1) perceived barriers to cessation, (2) severity of problematic symptoms during past quit attempts, and (3) smoking-specific experiential avoidance (AIS) was examined. Data were drawn from a baseline assessment of a larger clinical trial. Participants included 332 adult treatment-seeking smokers (47.3% female; Mage=38.45; SD=.50; age range: 18-65 years). Results indicated that perceived stress was indirectly related to perceived barriers to smoking cessation, severity of problematic symptoms during past quit attempts, and AIS through negative reinforcement outcome expectancies. These results were evident after accounting for the variance explained by gender, negative affectivity, and alternative outcome expectancies for smoking. The present findings suggest that smokers with greater perceived stress experience greater negative reinforcement smoking expectancies, which in turn, may be related to numerous processes involved in the maintenance of smoking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States. Electronic address: zrobles@uh.edu.
authors.forename: Zuzuky
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Robles
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
authors.forename: Lorra
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
authors.forename: Julianna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bakhshaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States.
authors.forename: Norman B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States; Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zvolensky
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Expectancies; Negative affect; Perceived stress; Smoking; Treatment