Examination of smoking inflexibility as a mechanism linking anxiety sensitivity and severity of smoking behavior.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

Anxiety sensitivity is associated with smoking processes and poorer clinical outcomes. Yet, the specific mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Smoking-specific avoidance and inflexibility (AIS) is a construct implicated in multiple manifestations of mood regulation that may underlie smoking severity. The current study examined whether AIS accounted for (ie, statistically mediated) the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and multiple indices of smoking severity.

METHODS

Baseline self-report data were collected among treatment-seeking smokers (N = 396; 48% female; Mage  = 37.8 years) taking part in a larger intervention study. Gender, smoking-related medical history, Axis I diagnoses, hazardous alcohol use, substance abuse/dependence, and negative affectivity were statistically controlled in analyses.

RESULTS

Anxiety sensitivity was indirectly related to all smoking severity variables, with the exception of nicotine dependence, through its relation with AIS.

DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide initial evidence suggesting AIS may be an important construct in better understanding anxiety sensitivity-smoking relations.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Results suggest the importance of AIS as a malleable target for smoking cessation intervention.