Attribution, Affect, and Expectancy Following Smoking Cessation Treatment

We telephoned people 1 1/2 to 2 years after the end of smoking cessation treatment and classified them as current nonsmokers (n = 29) or smokers (n = 32). Subjects indicated how much they endorsed six causes of smoking or abstinence, gave an attribution for their current status and rated it on five causal dimensions, reported how strongly they felt 16 emotions concerning their outcome, and estimated the likelihood they would be smoking 3 months hence. Nonsmokers reported high confidence, contentment, and relief; were optimistic about the likelihood of continued abstinence; and attributed their success to controllable personal dispositions. Smokers' responses showed moderate levels of positive and negative emotions, uncertainty about future smoking, and attributions consistent with behavioral self-blame (Janoff-Bulman, 1979). Further analyses suggested that (a) for smokers, feeling unhappy and sorry were associated with personally controllable attributions for relapse and that (b) for all subjects, strategy ascriptions and unhappiness were predictive of lower estimates of the likelihood of future smoking.