Motivation to Quit Smoking in Substance Abusing Outpatients: Association with Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between motivation to quit smoking and symptoms of depression and anxiety among 216 smokers seeking outpatient substance abuse treatment.

Methods: Subjects were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, a Likert scale of readiness to quit smoking, the Smoking Stages of Change Algorithm, the Addiction Severity Index and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence.

Results: There was a relationship between anxiety and motivation to quit smoking, with subjects reporting higher anxiety also reporting greater motivation to quit smoking. This relationship held up after controlling for the effects of substance use severity, race, gender, and cigarettes smoked per day. However, there was no relationship between depression and motivation to quit smoking.

Conclusions: This is one of the few studies examining the role of anxiety and depression on motivation to quit smoking among smokers attending a substance abuse treatment program. The findings help to clarify the relationship between mental health symptoms and motivation to quit smoking in a substance abuse treatment setting.

KEYWORDS:

• Cigarette
• tobacco
• smoking
• anxiety
• depression
• motivation
• stages of change
• outpatient
• substance use
• alcohol
• drug