Acute negative affect relief from smoking depends on the affect situation and measure but not on nicotine

Abstract

Background: Smoking acutely relieves negative affect (NA) due to smoking abstinence but may not relieve NA from other sources, such as stressors.

Methods: Dependent smokers (n = 104) randomly assigned to one of three smoking conditions (nicotine or denicotinized cigarettes, or no smoking) completed four negative mood induction procedures (one per session): 1) overnight smoking abstinence, 2) challenging computer task, 3) public speech preparation, and 4) watching negative mood slides. A fifth session involved a neutral mood control. The two smoking groups took four puffs on their assigned cigarette and then smoked those same cigarettes ad libitum during continued mood induction. All subjects rated their level of NA and positive affect on several measures (Mood Form, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, Stress-Arousal Checklist, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-state). They also rated craving and withdrawal.

Results: Negative affect relief from smoking depended on the NA source (i.e., mood induction procedure) and the affect measure. Smoking robustly relieved NA due to abstinence on all four measures but only modestly relieved NA due to the other sources and typically on only some measures. Smoking's effects on positive affect and withdrawal were similar to effects on NA, but relief of craving depended less on NA source. Smoking reinforcement only partly matched the pattern of NA relief. Few responses differed between the nicotine and denicotinized smoking groups.

Conclusions: Acute NA relief from smoking depends on the situation and the affect measure used but may not depend on nicotine intake. These results challenge the common assumption that smoking, and nicotine in particular, broadly alleviates NA.

Figure 1

Timeline of each session. BL (baseline), T1, T2, and T3 indicate the points at which affect, craving, and withdrawal measures were obtained. Cigarette ratings were obtained at the unlabeled point just after the exposure puffs. The time intervals between points indicate the time between the start of the completion of the measures and not necessarily the duration of mood induction procedures (see text for details of mood induction timing).

Figure 2

Negative affect across time points as functions of mood induction procedure, smoking condition, and affect measure. The five mood conditions are arrayed across the top in different columns, while results for the specific measures are presented in different rows. Results for neutral mood are presented in the first column, followed by abstinence, to show the effects of smoking after abstinence versus neutral mood. Effects of smoking under the three non-abstinence negative mood procedures are then presented, to facilitate comparison with smoking effects after abstinence. ** p<.01; *** p<.001 for comparisons between the no smoking versus the nicotine or denic cigarette smoking groups in the change from T1 to T2 or from T1 to T3. Asterisks apply to both comparisons unless otherwise specified by superscripts (a, b).

Figure 3

Smoking reward (top) and puff volume during the ad libitum smoking period (bottom) as functions of mood induction procedure and nicotine versus denic smoking group. The main effect of nicotine was significant for reward but not for puff volume. ** p<.01; *** p<.001 for the difference from neutral mood control procedure.