Cigarette smoking remains the single most preventable cause or morbidity and mortality in the United States, accounting for approximately 440,000 deaths per year. It is thus essential that researchers continue to investigate the factors relevant to the treatment of nicotine dependence. Drug-related expectancies represent the consequences that an individual expects from the use (or non-use) of any given substance. With respect to smoking, research has focused on smokers'expectancies for the use of cigarettes. These expectancies, as measured by the standard smoking expectancy questionnaires, are robust predictors of smoking motivation and behavior. However, no prior study has examined smokers'expectancies for the non-use of cigarettes. That is, no previous study has investigated the consequences that smokers expect when they quit smoking (that is, abstinence-related expectancies). However, these expectancies likely have considerable significance to the treatment of nicotine dependence. The primary goal of the current study is to examine smokers'expectancies for abstinence via the development of an abstinence-related expectancies questionnaire: the Smoking Abstinence Questionnaire (SAQ). An initial pool of SAQ items will be developed via reference to the literature, focus groups with current smokers, and expert panel review. A draft version of the SAQ will be administered to 500 current smokers and refined with the use of established psychometric procedures, including factor analysis. The SAQ's relationship to smoking-relevant variables will be examined, including its relationship to nicotine dependence, withdrawal, motivation to quit, abstinence self-efficacy, negative affect, and smoking expectancies. We hypothesize that the SAQ will have significant relationships with each of these variables, thereby providing evidence for its construct validity. The proposed study will provide valuable information regarding the process of quitting and important treatment-related process variables. Moreover, the development of the SAQ will allow for continued, systematic, research of the role of abstinence-related expectancies in the quitting process. Finally, this investigation may help inform smoking treatment. Thus, the current study will advance the development of nicotine dependence treatments. Relevance: No prior study has investigated the consequences that smokers anticipate when they quit smoking, although these expectancies likely have significance in the treatment of nicotine dependence. The primary goal of the current study is the development of an abstinence-related expectancies questionnaire. Thus, the current study will advance the development of nicotine dependence treatments.
