AFFECT-MANAGEMENT AND HABIT MECHANISMS IN THE MODIFICATION OF SMOKING-BEHAVIOR

The present study contrasted two major models of why people smoke. Tomkins' affect management model implies that positive and negative affect smokers may need to find alternate affect-management strategies to substitute for cigarettes in order to quit smoking. Hunt and Matarazzo's overlearning model suggests that treatment approaches directed toward the extinction of the overlearned smoking habit should be most effective. In order to decide between these models relationships between measures of habit in smoking, affect-management reasons for smoking and subjects' reliance on various self-control techniques were considered. A factor analysis of the 33 subjects in two smoking modification programs who were abstinent at follow-up revealed that their use of two of the self-control techniques-muscle relaxation and thought stopping-was positively related to indices of their smoking habit, but not to affect-management reasons for smoking. As predicted, no relationships were found between use of self-control techniques and either affect-management or habit for the 65 subjects who were not abstinent at follow-up. © 1979.