Psychological morbidity as a moderator of intention to quit smoking : a study of smokers and former smokers

Objective: To analyze psychological morbidity as a moderator of the relationship between smoking representations and quality of life in smokers and former smokers, as well as to determine which psychological variables discriminate between smokers with and without the intention to quit smoking. Methods: This was a quantitative, correlational cross-sectional study involving a convenience sample of 224 smokers and 169 former smokers. Results: In smokers and former smokers, psychological morbidity had a moderating effect on the relationship between mental/physical quality of life and smoking representations (cognitive representations, emotional representations, and comprehensibility). Smokers with the intention to quit smoking more often presented with low comprehensibility, threatening emotional representations, behavioral beliefs, and perceived behavioral control, as well as with normative/control beliefs, than did those without the intention to quit. Conclusions: The results of this study underscore the importance of the moderating effect exerted by psychological morbidity, as well as that of sociocognitive variables, among smokers who have the intention to quit smoking.ResumoObjetivo: Analisar a morbidade psicológica como um moderador na relação entre as representações do tabaco e a qualidade de vida em fumantes e ex-fumantes, assim como conhecer as variáveis psicológicas que discriminam os fumantes com e sem intenção para deixar de fumar. Métodos: Estudo quantitativo, correlacional e transversal com uma amostra de conveniência constituída por 224 fumantes e 169 ex-fumantes. Resultados: Verificou-se um efeito moderador da morbidade psicológica na relação entre a qualidade de vida (física e mental) e as representações do tabaco (representações cognitivas e emocionais e compreensão) nos fumantes e nos ex-fumantes. Os fumantes com intenção para deixar de fumar apresentavam menor compreensão, representações emocionais mais ameaçadoras, mais crenças de comportamento, maior controle comportamental percebido e mais crenças normativas/controle do que aqueles sem essa intenção. Conclusões: Os resultados deste estudo enfatizam a importância da morbidade psicológica como moderadora, bem como das variáveis sociocognitivas, junto dos fumantes que querem deixar de fumar

Boolean Dynamics with Random Couplings

This paper reviews a class of generic dissipative dynamical systems called N-K models. In these models, the dynamics of N elements, defined as Boolean variables, develop step by step, clocked by a discrete time variable. Each of the N Boolean elements at a given time is given a value which depends upon K elements in the previous time step. We review the work of many authors on the behavior of the models, looking particularly at the structure and lengths of their cycles, the sizes of their basins of attraction, and the flow of information through the systems. In the limit of infinite N, there is a phase transition between a chaotic and an ordered phase, with a critical phase in between. We argue that the behavior of this system depends significantly on the topology of the network connections. If the elements are placed upon a lattice with dimension d, the system shows correlations related to the standard percolation or directed percolation phase transition on such a lattice. On the other hand, a very different behavior is seen in the Kauffman net in which all spins are equally likely to be coupled to a given spin. In this situation, coupling loops are mostly suppressed, and the behavior of the system is much more like that of a mean field theory. We also describe possible applications of the models to, for example, genetic networks, cell differentiation, evolution, democracy in social systems and neural networks.Comment: 69 pages, 16 figures, Submitted to Springer Applied Mathematical Sciences Serie