Young people who quit smoking show improvements in their personalities, says a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia, mainly in the areas of being impulsive and neurotic.
A knotted cigarette as a quitting smoking sign
“The data indicate that for some young adults smoking is impulsive,” said Andrew Littlefield, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the university. “That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards … They might say, ‘I know smoking is bad for me, but I’m going to do it anyway.’
Researchers compared people, aged 18-35, who smoked with those who had quit smoking. They found that individuals who smoked were higher in two personality traits during young adulthood:
– Impulsivity, acting without thinking about the consequences.
– Neuroticism, being emotionally negative and anxious, most of the time.
Littlefield found that people with higher levels of impulsivity and neuroticism were more likely to engage in detrimental behaviors, such as smoking, and those who were smoking were more likely to engage in detrimental behaviors.
However, those who quit smoking had the biggest declines in impulsivity and neuroticism from ages 18 to 25, Littlefield said. And those who had a decline in impulsivity were more likely to quit, he said.
So, “If we can target anti-smoking efforts at that impulsivity, it may help the young people stop smoking,” he said.
The motives for smoking later in life — habit, craving, loss of control and tolerance — don’t appear to be connected to personality traits, he said.
The findings aren’t the only answer to why young people smoke, he said. Substance use is still a complex relationship of genetic and environmental factors, Littlefield said.
The study, “Smoking Desistance and Personality Change in Emerging and Young Adulthood,” has been accepted by the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The study was co-authored by Kenneth J. Sher, a professor in the MU psychology department.
