Abstract
Cigarette smoking is one of the main risk factors for disability, disease, and death that can be prevented according to World Health Organization (Johnson et. al., 2000). The number of people that smoke has been rapidly increasing. The habit tends to start when individuals are at their teenage years or early adulthood and they become addicted and carry it on to adulthood. Some of the common reasons why young people begin smoking are to fit in to the crowd, for the rush they get and to experiment.
Many people try out smoking but don’t end up becoming smokers. However, others end up becoming addicted. One of the models that explain the difference between those who will end up getting addicted and those who won’t is the differences in personality. Hence, the programs and models designed to assist individuals to stop smoking are grounded on the understanding of pharmacological, social, psychological and biological processes that are part of smoking maintenance and initiation.
Introduction
The matching of interventions to the stage of change and individual needs is increasing in programs for cessation of smoking. As such, it is vital that individual differences that may contribute to smoking such as personality traits are identified and examined. By understanding the role of personality in smoking behavior, interventions may be improved via personalized treatment and public policies (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003).
Personality traits refer to dispositions that endure and are behavior determinants (Johnson et. al., 2000). A standard model for personality is the five-factor model that consists of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience and conscientiousness (Johnson et. al., 2000). The five personalities according to the model have been seen to remain constant across culture. Research has also revealed that they are heritable. Six other low order traits define each factor and are known as facets. In the following essay, the relationship between smoking and personality traits according to the five-factor model will be examined.
There have been numerous studies focusing on examining the relationship between personality traits and smoking. Most of these studies have focused on personality as it is in the five-factor model. However, most studies fail to analyze the relationship between cigarette smoking and personality using the facets found in the five factors of personality according to the five-factor model (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003). The essay will not only examine the relationship of smoking to the five factors of personality but will also analyze the link between the various facets of the five factors and how they contribute to smoking.
Despite the differences in personality between non-smokers and smokers being minimal, they are significant since a lot of people smoke. Even the most minimal research regarding personality and smoking may increase the information on smoking behavior and be of great use in the development of tobacco use cessation and prevention programs.
A study done by Smith in 1970 reveals that he concluded that smokers are more impulsive, have tendencies of being antisocial, externally oriented, disagreeableness, extroverted and their mental health is poorer than that of non-smokers (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003). A lot of the other studies done after this one relate to the mood-regulating and stimulating effects cigarette smoking has on individuals. According to Eysenck, some people smoke to reduce anxiety and tension, they include people with high levels of neuroticism while others smoke to get stimulation such as those with high extraversion levels (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003).
Smokers tend to score higher on extraversion and neuroticism than non-smokers. Several studies have been done to examine the relationship of other personality dimensions such as Eysenck's Psychoticism with smoking. Eysenck's psychoticism is the inverse of conscientiousness and agreeableness (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003).
Most people consider smoking as an antisocial trait. In league with this observation, Smith noted that individuals who smoke are considered less agreeable by their peers. A longitudinal study done that involved a 24-year follow-up revealed that having high extraversion and neuroticism and low conscientiousness in a child predicted that the child was likely to be a smoker as an adult. Nonetheless, studies on the relationship between smoking and personality have been criticized since the role openness plays is not well assessed and only weak co-relations have been found between extraversion and smoking.
Data Collection and Method
Also, questions such as do you smoke? Have you ever smoked? For how long did you smoke? Do you still smoke? Can be used. Questions on personality may include; how do you react to stressful situations? How would you describe yourself? Among others can be used to determine the personality. The questions and the NEO-PI-R test would be handed out in questionnaires.
Once the questionnaires are filled, an analysis of the custom made questionnaires regarding smoking and the NEO-PI-R test is conducted. In the analysis, the similarities and differences between the personalities of smokers and non-smokers are identified.
Hypothesis and prediction
The hypothesis to the research topic is that personality influences one’s chances of becoming a cigarette smoker. The hypothesis is based on the fact that personality has a large influence over our behavior and is part of the genetic composition. Moreover, personality may indirectly lead us towards or away from smoking depending on other causal factors such as the friends we keep and environment in which we live. Hence, personality largely influences the chances of becoming a cigarette smoke. The personality difference between those who end up getting addicted and those who don’t is that those who get addicted score higher on neuroticism while those who don’t score lower on neuroticism and higher on conscientiousness.
Alternative hypothesis
However, it is possible that personality exerts no influence in the likelihood of becoming a smoker and that smoking is solely influenced by other external variables. The external variables may include, company of people, environment and availability of the cigarettes.
Confounding variables
There are various confounding variables that affect cigarette smoking. They are listed below. Bragging is one of the confounding variables that influence cigarette smoking. Some people smoke due to the prestige associated with doing so and the popularity they get. It happens mostly to teenagers who seek recognition from their peers.
Peer pressure is another confounding variable. A lot of teenagers will smoke cigarettes simply because their friends do it. The environment one spends time in is another variable. If one stays in an environment where everyone smokes, they are also likely to adopt the trait. The confounding variables seem to lean towards the alternative hypothesis that cigarette smoking is not influenced by personality rather by other external factors.
Data Analysis
Some of the possible explanations that have been put across for discrepancies in the findings on the relationship between personality and smoking include the fact that, the studies have been carried out in different countries. Another factor is that the studies have been done in the different period of times, and our psychological status continues to change as we evolve.
Public policy and cultural factors play a large role in determining the smoking prevalence in areas and the characteristics and behavior of smokers. Besides, stringent social policy and information on the side effects of smoking have changed the status of smoking. For example, the people who smoked earlier on in the United States are different from the ones who smoke in the present day and are also distinct from the smokers in the developing countries (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003). Differences in the literature concerning personality traits and smoking may also have come about due to the sampling of different populations, usage of different methods and usage of different instruments in the tests.
Analyzing smoking and personality at the level of the facets of the five-factor model enables the relationship between the two to be better understood. The following are some of the facets of factors of the five-factor model that show how they may contribute to smoking maintenance and initiation. Some of the facets of conscientiousness are low self-discipline and little deliberation (Costa, 2001).
Low self-discipline refers to an inability to complete or begin a task due to giving in to distractions and boredom. Low deliberation suggests taking actions without thinking about their consequences. Both of this facets of conscientiousness are likely to play a role in initiating or maintaining the behavior of smoking since they cause the individual to engage in reckless conduct.
One of the facets of neuroticism is impulsiveness. Impulsiveness refers to an inability to fight back urges and cravings. Such an individual won’t be able to stop smoking cigarettes and will quickly get the next fix when they crave it, thereby, maintaining his or her smoking behavior.
One of the facets of extraversion that contribute to smoking behavior is excitement seeking. Excitement seeking refers to a drive to get stimulation and excitement. Individuals who seek stimulation and excitement are likely to start and continue smoking since smoking gives one a rush that stimulates and excites the individual. People who score high on excitement seeking, therefore, easily get hooked on smoking. The other facets of extraversion are; gregariousness, warmth, assertiveness, positive emotions and activity (John, 2000). The aspects of the five-factor model have a role in smoking cessation, maintenance, and initiation and studying the role they play provides a sound basis for coming up with personalized cessation programs.
A study by Parkes in 1984 whereby he analyzed the dimensions of Eysenck revealed that there is an interaction between psychoticism and neuroticism and between extraversion and neuroticism in the differentiation between non-smokers and smokers (Costa, 2001). People with low levels of conscientiousness and high neuroticism levels are more likely to smoke.
The five factors of the model have been paired in different combinations to investigate the effects of combined traits on the maintenance, initiation, and cessation of smoking (McCrae & Costa, 2003). The classifications are;
Agreeableness and Neuroticism, style of anger control
Extraversion and neuroticism, style of well-being
Openness and Neuroticism, style of defense
Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, style of impulse
Agreeableness and Extraversion, style of interaction
Openness and Extraversion, style of interest
Conscientiousness and Extraversion, style of activity
Conscientiousness and openness, style of learning
Agreeableness and Openness, style of attitude
Conscientiousness and agreeableness, style of character
Neuroticism can be caused by smoking, or can cause smoking. Longitudinal studies done reveal that high neuroticism increases the chances for initiation of smoking (Costa, 2001). Also, nicotine depletion that refers to the periods between cigarette use lead to increased negative affective states. Long-term cigarette smoking may result in depressive disorders or anxiety disorders.
Neuroticism high scores also go along with the view that cigarette smoking is used as self-medication by some people. The facets of neuroticism are consistent with the proneness to psychopathology that is seen in smokers dependent on nicotine (Kassel, Stroud & Paronis, 2003).
Conclusion
Personality traits have a huge influence on human behavior. It is no wonder then that they play a role in determining whether an individual is likely to be a smoker or not. For rehabilitation of smokers to be effective, personality traits need to be taken into account since our differences in personality make the difference between how we behave. The exploration of the facets of the five-factor model is of great use in contributing to the development of effective smoking cessation models. It is essential that further research is carried out on the relationship between the facets of personality and smoking to create a better treatment model for smokers.
References
Costa, P. (2001) Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 81:322–331.
John, O. P. (2000) The Big Five factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and questionnaires. New York: Guilford Press.
Johnson, J., Cohen, P., Pine, D., Klein, D., Kasen, S. & Brook, J.S. (2000) Association between cigarette smoking and anxiety disorders during adolescence and early adulthood. Jama-Journal of the American Medical Association. 284:2348–2351.
Kassel, J.D., Stroud, L.R., & Paronis, C.A. (2003) Smoking, stress, and negative affect: Correlation, causation, and context across stages of smoking. Psychological Bulletin. 129:270–304.
McCrae, R.R., & Costa PT., J. (2003) Personality in Adulthood: A Five-Factor Theory Perspective. New York: Guilford Press.
