The Addictive Personality: Prediction of Success in a Smoking Withdrawal Program

A battery of tests was administered to 104 males who each smoked at least a pack of cigarettes daily, on the average, for over 20 years. These men sought help and participated in a 10-week program to break the habit. The scales used were derived from previous theoretical formulations regarding the addictive smoker. Factors used to predict success or failure in the treatment were: (a) defiant, impulsive, danger-seeking traits associated with manifest distress; (b) constricted, guarded and socially isolated traits; (c) perception of one's mother as having been demanding, cold and harsh; and (d) previous failure to abstain from cigarettes for at least 1 week. The first three factors were found to be significantly correlated with failure to break the habit. All four variables, when dichotomized at the median, significantly differentiated successful from unsuccessful Ss at the end of treatment. The battery, as a whole, was predictively accurate in 69% of the subjects (x2 = 12.32,P<0.001).