Effect of Nicotine on Negative Affect Among More Impulsive Smokers

In the present study, the authors tested the hypothesis that nicotine would provide greater relief from negative affect for more impulsive smokers than for less impulsive smokers. Euthymic adult smokers (N = 70) participated in 2 laboratory sessions, during which they underwent a negative mood induction (music x autobiographical memory), then smoked either a nicotinized or de-nicotinized cigarette. Mixed-effects regression yielded a significant Impulsivity x Condition (nicotinized vs. de-nicotinized) x Time interaction. Simple effects analyses showed that heightened impulsivity predicted greater negative affect relief after smoking a nicotinized cigarette but not after smoking a de-nicotinized cigarette. These data suggest that nicotine may be a disproportionately powerful negative reinforcer for highly impulsive smokers, promoting higher levels of nicotine dependence and inhibiting smoking cessation

The effects of nicotine on dysphoric mood among ruminators and nonruminators.

The effects of nicotine on dysphoric mood among ruminators and nonruminators

Rumination and Cigarette Smoking: A Bad Combination for Depressive Outcomes?

Ruminative coping has been shown to heighten the risk and severity of depression. The authors hypothesized that ruminators who smoke would experience greater depressive symptoms than ruminators who do not. The rationale is that, by heightening attentional focus, nicotine may increase ruminators\u27 ability to focus on negative thoughts, augmenting depressed mood. Participants (N = 145) self-reported smoking status, rumination, and current and lifetime depressive symptoms, including depressed mood. Results showed that rumination accounted for a larger amount of variance in current and past depressed mood and severity of lifetime depressive symptoms among smokers than nonsmokers. Noncorrelational, experimental research should directly test whether nicotine worsens depressed mood among ruminative smokers. Such evidence would be surprising because it would contradict the assumption that nicotine dispels negative moods

Impulsivity and smoking relapse

Previous research has shown that elevated trait-impulsivity heightens the risk for initiating tobacco use and indicates that nicotine may be disproportionately rewarding for more impulsive persons. However, the influence of impulsivity on the ability to maintain nicotine abstinence has not been studied. The present study tested the hypothesis that a higher level of trait-impulsivity would predict a more rapid relapse to smoking following 48 hr of nicotine abstinence. Participants were euthymic, regular smokers (N=45), with a history of at least one major depressive episode, who participated in a paid smoking cessation study with biological challenge (tryptophan depletion). Treatment involved a 1-day skills training workshop followed by 48 hr of bioverified abstinence and weekly follow-up for 1 month. Regression analyses indicated that elevated impulsivity predicted shorter time to relapse following the workshop after controlling for treatment condition, baseline nicotine dependence, and age (β =.39, N2 change=.147, p=.011). Greater impulsivity predicted more rapid relapse to smoking, which mediational analyses indicated could not be explained by positive affect, negative affect, or craving. Findings suggest a need to identify alternative mechanisms to explain impulsive smokers’ increased difficulty in maintaining abstinence and to develop targeted treatments that address the special needs of smokers high in impulsivity