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. 2013 Nov;15(11):1807-15.
doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntt036. Epub 2013 Mar 18.

Affective trajectories before and after a quit attempt among smokers with current depressive disorders

Amanda R Mathew  1 , Jason D Robinson, Peter J Norton, Paul M Cinciripini, Richard A Brown, Janice A Blalock
Affiliations

Affective trajectories before and after a quit attempt among smokers with current depressive disorders

Amanda R Mathew et al. Nicotine Tob Res. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Smoking cessation for individuals with depressive disorders represents an important clinical issue. It often has been hypothesized that smoking cessation worsens negative affect as part of the withdrawal process in this population. However, studies examining the impact of smoking cessation on changes in affect in smokers with depression are limited and equivocal.

Methods: This study examines affective processes in smokers with depression undergoing a 12-week smoking cessation intervention (N = 49). We used the Positive and Negative Affect Scale to measure participants' positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) trajectories over the course of a quit attempt. We examined whether affective treatment response across the trial differed by prolonged smoking abstinence status and whether postquit affect differed by prequit affective treatment response, as well as the interaction of prequit affective response and abstinence status.

Results: Prolonged abstainers showed significant increases in PA over the course of a quit attempt compared with nonabstainers. Prequit affective trajectories significantly predicted postquit affect for measures of both PA and NA. Lastly, the interaction of prequit affective trajectory and abstinence significantly predicted postquit levels of NA but not PA.

Conclusions: This study adds to a burgeoning body of research demonstrating that significant improvements in psychological functioning can be observed among those who successfully quit smoking even in the most severe psychiatric group.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Slopes for (A) nonsignificant Positive and Negative Affect Scale–Negative Affect (PANAS-N) and (B) significant Positive Affect (PANAS-P) scores in prolonged abstainers versus nonabstainers. TQD = target quit date.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Interaction effects for (A) significant prequit PANAS-N slope by abstinence status (7-day point prevalence) on postquit PANAS-N score and (B) nonsignificant prequit PANAS-P slope by abstinence status (7-day point prevalence) on postquit PANAS-P score. SD = standard deviation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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