This study used data collected from a smoking cessation program (N = 146) to evaluate whether subjective social status was indirectly associated with smoking cessation through nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Findings indicated that subjective social status was indirectly associated with smoking cessation through withdrawal symptoms, specifically through anger and anxiety symptoms. People with lower subjective social status reported more withdrawal symptoms, particularly symptoms related to anger and anxiety, shortly after a quit attempt, and as such, were less likely to achieve smoking abstinence. Findings from this study provide insight into why socioeconomically disadvantaged adults are less likely to remain abstinent after a quit attempt.
AdlerNEEpelESCastellazzoG, et al. (2000) Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, White women. Health Psychology19(6): 586–592.
2.
Al’AbsiMCarrSBBongardS (2007) Anger and psychobiological changes during smoking abstinence and in response to acute stress: Prediction of smoking relapse. International Journal of Psychophysiology66(2): 109–115.
3.
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edn). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
4.
BabbSMalarcherASchauerG, et al. (2017) Quitting smoking among adults—United States, 2000–2015. MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report65(52): 1457–1464.
5.
BandieraFCAtemFMaP, et al. (2016) Post-quit stress mediates the relation between social support and smoking cessation among socioeconomically disadvantaged adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence163: 71–76.
6.
BenowitzNLIIIPJAhijevychKJarvisMJ, et al. (2002) Biochemical verification of tobacco use and cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research4(2): 149–159.
7.
CarverCSScheierMFWeintraubJK (1989) Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology56(2): 267–283.
8.
CastroYKendzorDEBusinelleMS, et al. (2011) Structural and predictive equivalency of the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale across three racial/ethnic groups. Nicotine & Tobacco Research13(7): 548–555.
9.
CohenSAlperCMDoyleWJ, et al. (2008) Objective and subjective socioeconomic status and susceptibility to the common cold. Health Psychology27(2): 268–274.
10.
DemakakosPNazrooJBreezeE, et al. (2008) Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status. Social Science & Medicine67(2): 330–340.
11.
GareyLReitzelLRBakhshaieJ, et al. (2015) Subjective social status and readiness to quit among homeless smokers. American Journal of Health Behavior39(2): 157–166.
12.
GreitemeyerTSagioglouC (2016) Subjective socioeconomic status causes aggression: A test of the theory of social deprivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology111(2): 178–194.
13.
GreitemeyerTSagioglouC (2019) The experience of deprivation: Does relative more than absolute status predict hostility?The British Journal of Social Psychology58: 515–533.
14.
HanYJNunesJCDrèzeX (2010) Signaling status with luxury goods: The role of brand prominence. Journal of Marketing74(4): 15–30.
15.
HiscockRBauldLAmosA, et al. (2012) Socioeconomic status and smoking: A review. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences1248(1): 107–123.
16.
HoebelJMaskeUEZeebH, et al. (2017) Social inequalities and depressive symptoms in adults: The role of objective and subjective socioeconomic status. PLoS ONE12(1): e0169764.
17.
KasselJDStroudLRParonisCA (2003) Smoking, stress, and negative affect: Correlation, causation, and context across stages of smoking. Psychological Bulletin129(2): 270–304.
18.
KauffmanBYBakhshaieJManningK, et al. (2020) The role of emotion dysregulation in the association between subjective social status and eating expectancies among college students. Journal of American College Health68: 97–103.
19.
KendzorDEBusinelleMSPoonawallaIB, et al. (2015) Financial incentives for abstinence among socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals in smoking cessation treatment. American Journal of Public Health105(6): 1198–1205.
20.
KendzorDEBusinelleMSWatersAF, et al. (2018) Financial strain indirectly influences smoking cessation through withdrawal symptom severity. Drug and Alcohol Dependence183: 55–61.
21.
KrausMWParkJWTanJJX (2017) Signs of social class: The experience of economic inequality in everyday life. Perspectives on Psychological Science12(3): 422–435.
22.
MacCallumRCWidamanKFZhangS, et al. (1999) Sample size in factor analysis. Psychological Methods4(1): 84–99.
23.
McGeeRWilliamsSNada-RajaS, et al. (2013) Tobacco smoking in adolescence predicts maladaptive coping styles in adulthood. Nicotine & Tobacco Research15(12): 1971–1977.
24.
McLaughlinIDaniJADe BiasiM (2015) Nicotine withdrawal. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences24: 99–123.
25.
MundfromDJShawDGKeTL (2005) Minimum sample size recommendations for conducting factor analyses. International Journal of Testing5(2): 159–168.
26.
PiperMEPiaseckiTMFedermanEB, et al. (2004) A multiple motives approach to tobacco dependence: The Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology72(2): 139–154.
27.
ReitzelLRBusinelleMSKendzorDE, et al. (2011) Subjective social status predicts long-term smoking abstinence. BMC Public Health11: 135.
28.
ReitzelLRKendzorDECaoY, et al. (2014) Subjective social status predicts quit-day abstinence among homeless smokers. American Journal of Health Promotion29(1): 43–45.
29.
ReitzelLRMazasCACofta-WoerpelL, et al. (2010) Subjective social status affects smoking abstinence during acute withdrawal through affective mediators. Addiction105(5): 928–936.
30.
RogersAHBakhshaieJVianaAG, et al. (2018) Emotion dysregulation and smoking among treatment-seeking smokers. Addictive Behaviors79: 124–130.
31.
SAS Institute (2013) Base SAS 9.4 Procedures Guide (2nd edn). Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
32.
SchistermanEFColeSRPlattRW (2009) Overadjustment bias and unnecessary adjustment in epidemiologic studies. Epidemiology20(4): 488–495.
33.
SmithHJPettigrewTFPippinGM, et al. (2012) Relative deprivation: A theoretical and meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review16(3): 203–232.
34.
SmithSSPiperMEBoltDM, et al. (2010) Development of the Brief Wisconsin Inventory of smoking dependence motives. Nicotine & Tobacco Research12(5): 489–499.
35.
SmitsJAJZvolenskyMJDavisML, et al. (2016) The efficacy of vigorous-intensity exercise as an aid to smoking cessation in adults with high anxiety sensitivity. Psychosomatic Medicine78(3): 354–364.
36.
StepankovaLKralikovaEZvolskaK, et al. (2017) Depression and smoking cessation: Evidence from a smoking cessation clinic with 1-year follow-up. Annals of Behavioral Medicine51(3): 454–463.
37.
TongISLuY (2001) Identification of confounders in the assessment of the relationship between lead exposure and child development. Annals of Epidemiology11(1): 38–45.
38.
TullMTAldaoA (2015) Editorial overview: New directions in the science of emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology3: iv–x.
39.
WelschSKSmithSSWetterDW, et al. (1999) Development and validation of the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology7(4): 354–361.
40.
WhemboluaG-LDavisJTReitzelLR, et al. (2012) Subjective social status predicts smoking abstinence among light smokers. American Journal of Health Behavior36(5): 639–646.
41.
WilkinsonRG (1999) Health, hierarchy, and social anxiety. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences896(1): 48–63.
42.
YalcinBMUnalMPirdalH, et al. (2014) Effects of an anger management and stress control program on smoking cessation: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine27(5): 645–660.
43.
ZellEStrickhouserJEKrizanZ (2018) Subjective social status and health: A meta-analysis of community and society ladders. Health Psychology37(10): 979–987.
44.
ZvolenskyMJGareyLAllanNP, et al. (2018a) Effects of anxiety sensitivity reduction on smoking abstinence: An analysis from a panic prevention program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology86(5): 474–485.
45.
ZvolenskyMJPaulusDJBakhshaieJ, et al. (2017) Subjective social status and anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders among low income latinos in primary care: The role of emotion dysregulation. Cognitive Therapy and Research41(5): 686–698.
46.
ZvolenskyMJPaulusDJBakhshaieJ, et al. (2018b) Anxiety sensitivity and age: Roles in understanding subjective social status among low income adult Latinos in primary care. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health20(3): 632–640.
47.
ZvolenskyMJPaulusDJBakshaieJ, et al. (2018c) Subjective social status and mindful attention in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders among Latinos in primary care. Mindfulness9(1): 88–97.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
