Is stage-matched process-use associated with the transition from the preparation to action stage among smokers? A longitudinal test of the transtheoretical model

Abstract

This longitudinal study tested the predictions of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) regarding process-use and progressive stage-transition from the preparation stage to the action stage in relation to smoking behavior. We provided a secondary data-analysis of a longitudinal study of callers to a smoking-cessation hotline (Segan C, Borland R, Greenwood KM. 2002. Do transtheoretical model measures predict the transition from preparation to action in smoking cessation? Psychology and Health, 17:417–435). The results did not support the predictions of the TTM. In comparison to individuals who remained in the preparation stage over the course of the study, individuals making a transition to the action stage manifested: a similar pattern of stage-matched behavioral processes-of-change and a statistically significant decrease in stage-matched experiential process-use. Given the lack of support for the predicted longitudinal relations between process-use and forward transition from the preparation stage to the action stage, the results undermine the TTMs central tenet that stage-matched processes-of-change stand as the primary mechanisms of stage-progression.

• Transtheoretical model
• processes-of-change
• stage-transition
• construct validity
• smoking behavior