Depressive mood and tobacco use: moderating effects of gender and emotional attention.

INTRODUCTION: Depressive symptomatology is a predictive variable of tobacco use. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence that this symptomatology has on tobacco use when moderated by emotional attention. METHODS: A total of 289 participants (127 males, 162 females) completed a survey to measure perceived emotional intelligence, depressive symptomatology, tobacco use and sociodemographic variables. Results were analyzed using a multiple regression model that included self-perceived emotional attention as a moderating variable. RESULTS: In women, an interaction was found between depressive symptomatology and gender for predicting the number of cigarettes smoked (t=2.45; p=.01), but not in men (t=-.74; p=.45). This interaction was moderated by emotional attention (t=2.83; p=.005), such that women with medium and high levels of attention consumed a larger number of cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS: In women, the effect of depressive symptomatology on tobacco use was moderated by the amount of attention that women paid to those symptoms. Such a moderating effect of attention was not observed in men. We recommend that smoking cessation programs incorporate interventions designed specifically for women, in particular to help them manage depressive symptomatology.

[Clinical personality trait differences in the maintenance of abstinence and in relapses in the treatment of smoking cessation]. / Diferencias de rasgos clínicos de personalidad en el mantenimiento de la abstinencia y recaídas en tratamiento del tabaquismo.

Clinical personality trait differences in the maintenance of abstinence and in relapses in the treatment of smoking cessation. The aim of this study is to describe and compare personality characteristics of participants who quit smoking voluntarily by means of group treatment. The assessment instrument used was the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI). It was administered to a sample of 105 persons in Málaga (Spain) in The Spanish Cancer Association (Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer). The analysis consisted of comparing two sample groups: abstinence and relapse. The results revealed a higher rate of avoidant, masochistic and negativistic clinical personality traits in the relapse group. However, people with dependent personality traits maintained abstinence. There were also differences, in the direction of more relapses, in schizotypal and borderline personality disorders. This suggests that certain personality traits could be risk factors for relapse, whereas others increase the probability of success in the process of smoking cessation.