Adolescents' rationalizations to continue smoking: The role of disengagement beliefs and nicotine dependence in smoking cessation

Abstract Adult smokers were found to reduce cognitive dissonance regarding their smoking behaviour by adhering to rationalizations or justifications to continue smoking, also known as disengagement beliefs. These beliefs were found to be an important barrier with regard to smoking cessation practice...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addictive behaviors 2009-05, Vol.34 (5), p.440-445
Main Authors: Kleinjan, Marloes, van den Eijnden, Regina J.J.M, Engels, Rutger C.M.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescent
Adolescents
Attitude to Health
Belief & doubt
Correlation analysis
Disengagement beliefs
Female
Humans
Male
Motivation
Motivation to quit
Nicotine
Nicotine dependence
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Psychiatry
Smoking - psychology
Smoking cessation
Smoking Cessation - psychology
Socioeconomic Factors
Studies
Teenagers
Tobacco Use Disorder - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Adult smokers were found to reduce cognitive dissonance regarding their smoking behaviour by adhering to rationalizations or justifications to continue smoking, also known as disengagement beliefs. These beliefs were found to be an important barrier with regard to smoking cessation practices. Neither the occurrence of disengagement beliefs, nor its effect on motivation to quit and actual smoking cessation have been studied among adolescent smokers. Therefore, this prospective study among a sample of 363 adolescents examined the extent to which adolescents adhere to disengagement beliefs, and the relations between disengagement beliefs and adolescents' motivation to quit smoking, motivation change and smoking cessation. The association and interplay between disengagement beliefs and level of nicotine dependence was also assessed. Results showed that the degree to which adolescent smokers adhere to disengagement beliefs was similar to that of adults, if not stronger. Higher levels of dependence coincided with stronger adherence to disengagement beliefs. Further, when controlling for nicotine dependence, disengagement beliefs were strongly negatively associated with motivation to quit, but only marginally inversely associated with smoking cessation one year later. Nicotine dependence was the strongest barrier for smoking cessation at follow-up.
ISSN:0306-4603
1873-6327
DOI:10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.12.010