The effects of smoking are wide-ranging. Reducing stress is considered to be one such effect. This study investigated how smoking and abstinence from smoking is related to stress coping behaviors, by examining such behaviors related to smoking, cognitive rating of stressors, and sensitivity to anxiety. Abstinent smokers (
n = 402; Mean age, 49.72 years,
SD = 11.49 years) and people that had resumed smoking (
n = 425; Mean age, 44.78 years,
SD = 12.80 years) participated in the study. Results indicated that abstinent smokers felt significant benefits of smoking as a coping skill that reduce environmental stressors. Moreover, those that had resumed smoking felt the benefits of smoking for controlling their physical condition. Comparison between other forms of stress coping behaviors and smoking indicated that abstinent smokers utilized a variety of stress coping behaviors. Furthermore, the results indicated no significant relationships between cognitive rating of stressors, or the sensitivity to anxiety, on maintaining abstinence from smoking. Results of this study suggest that people that resumed smoking practiced few stress coping behaviors, other than smoking. Therefore, smoking made a significant contribution to stress coping in people that had resumed smoking. If stressors from the environment are more than those caused by being abstinent from smoking, smoking behavior is expected to contribute significantly to reducing stress reactions. Therefore, it might be difficult for resumed smokers to stop smoking. Resumed smokers experiencing high environmental stressors are expected to seek stronger stimulation acting directly on themselves, rather than trying to reduce stress reactions. If resumed smokers have low environmental stressors, they will seek stronger stress reducing effects that can express their existence, such as self-expression.
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