Abstract
There is consistent evidence that impulsivity is linked to tobacco consumption and to symptomatology in schizophrenia. In the current study, we propose a new integrative model of the relationship between impulsivity, psychopathological symptoms, and tobacco status in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. We investigated 33 paranoid schizophrenia patients and 37 healthy controls using a battery of psychopathological scales included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), the five-factor model of the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-10), and the UPPS Impulsive Behavior scale (UPPS). Step-wise regression analysis revealed that positive factor of the PANSS and tobacco status contributed positively and significantly to the explained variance of impulsivity. In addition, non-planning impulsivity and sensation-seeking emerged as significant predictors of tobacco status, while smoking predicted non-planning impulsivity and sensation-seeking. Our results suggest that the relationship between sensation-seeking and tobacco use is reciprocal and proposes a new integrative model of the relationship between impulsivity, positive symptoms and tobacco status in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. However, the exact mechanisms for these relationships deserve further investigation.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Pascale MAZZOLA-POMIETTO for assistance.