Cigarette smoking is a prevalent and costly behavior that is estimated to kill over 440,000 people in the United States every year (CDC, 2008a). Rates of cigarette smoking are particularly elevated among individuals with psychopathology (CDC, 2008a). Within this category of individuals with psychopathology, individuals with Social Phobia (SP) represent a large group with elevated rates of cigarette smoking who quit smoking at rates lower than that of individuals without psychopathology (Lasser et al., 2000;Ruscio et al., 2008). These findings highlight cigarette smokers with SP as a particularly important group for further examination. For individuals with SP, cigarette smoking may be used to reduce feelings of social anxiety in anticipation of and during social situations and may also be used to increase contact with other smokers (McCabe et al., 2004;Wittchen, Stein, &Kessler, 1999). Two existing prospective longitudinal studies suggest that a relationship between SP and cigarette smoking exists and that this relationship may be temporal in nature such that SP and SP symptoms predict the onset of nicotine dependence (Breslau, Novak, &Kessler, 2004;Sonntag et al., 2000). Despite this relationship, no studies to date have experimentally examined the functional relationship between SP and cigarette smoking in order to determine if cigarettes are being used in this manner by individuals with SP to reduce anxiety in anticipation of social situations or in response to stress associated with these situations. Considering the long-term consequences of cigarette smoking, it is important to get a clear understanding of the functional relationship between cigarette smoking and SP in order to create targeted interventions and cessation programs in the future for individuals with SP. Towards this end, the proposed study examines the relationship between level of SP (high SP, healthy control with average SP) and cigarette smoking-related outcomes (smoking topography, cigarette craving, relative reinforcement efficacy (RRE) of a cigarette) as a function of induced social stress (neutral, stress). Additionally, the current study examines negative reinforcement expectancies (NREs) as a moderator of the relationship between SP and smoking outcomes.

Public Health Relevance

Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. Identifying factors that contribute to cigarette smoking, such as comorbid psychopathology, represents the first step toward creating targeted interventions and cessation programs. The current project aims to examine the influence of Social Phobia (SP) on cigarette smoking (as measured by smoking topography and behavioral measures of the relative reinforcement efficacy of a cigarette) to experimentally explore whether cigarette smoking serves a functional role for individuals with SP.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
1F31DA034999-01A1
Application #
8594490
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F16-L (20))
Program Officer
Kimmel, Heather L
Project Start
2013-08-17
Project End
2015-08-16
Budget Start
2013-08-17
Budget End
2014-08-16
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$38,727
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Maryland College Park
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
790934285
City
College Park
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
20742
Dahne, Jennifer; Lim, Aaron C; Borges, Allison M et al. (2017) Risk-Taking Propensity in Older Adolescents: Internalizing Symptoms, Gender, and Negative Reinforcement. Psychiatry 80:252-264
Dahne, Jennifer; Richards, Jessica M; Lejuez, C W et al. (2015) One-Year Test-Retest Reliability of the Maryland Resource for the Behavioral Utilization of the Reinforcement of Negative Stimuli (MRBURNS). Pers Individ Dif 77:156-160
Dahne, Jennifer; Hoffman, Elana M; MacPherson, Laura (2015) The association between anxiety sensitivity and motivation to quit smoking among women and men in residential substance use treatment. Subst Use Misuse 50:72-8
Banducci, Anne N; Felton, Julia W; Dahne, Jennifer et al. (2015) Maternal risk taking on the balloon analogue risk task as a prospective predictor of youth alcohol use escalation. Addict Behav 49:40-5
Dahne, Jennifer; Lejuez, Carl W (2015) Smartphone and Mobile Application Utilization Prior to and Following Treatment Among Individuals Enrolled in Residential Substance Use Treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat 58:95-9
Dahne, Jennifer; Hise, Leanne; Brenner, Misha et al. (2015) An experimental investigation of the functional relationship between social phobia and cigarette smoking. Addict Behav 43:66-71
Brown, Ruth C; Clark, Shaunna L; Dahne, Jennifer et al. (2015) Testing the temporal relationship between maternal and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms in a community sample. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 44:566-79
Dahne, Jennifer; Stratton, Kelcey J; Brown, Ruth et al. (2014) Race as a moderator of the relationship between distress tolerance and cigarette smoking. Subst Use Misuse 49:708-14
Dahne, Jennifer; Banducci, Anne N; Kurdziel, Gretchen et al. (2014) Early adolescent symptoms of social phobia prospectively predict alcohol use. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 75:929-36