Two years of support are requested for research designed to examine the role of incorporating a smoker identity on smoking behavior. Past theory and research give rise to two competing predictions regarding the influence of identity on smoking behavior. Most approaches make the straightforward prediction that the more people identity themselves as smokers, the more they will smoke. Nevertheless, advocates of the disease model of addictions make the opposite prediction, arguing that for people to resist addictive behavior, they must first incorporate the addict identity (e.g., smoker). This conceptualization may apply especially well to """"""""Pseudo-non-smokers""""""""--people who smoke but do not consider themselves to be Smokers. The latter identity is potentially important because it may serve as a gateway identity, a transitional identity that encourages people to engage in behaviors that eventually lead to full blown addiction. The first goal of the proposed research will be to develop and validate a methodology for determining where people fall on a continuum that ranges from distancing (wherein a label such as smoker is acknowledged but remains separate from the person's conceptualization of self) to incorporation (wherein the label is fully assimilated into the person's conceptualization of self). Three distinct methods for measuring degree of distancing vs. incorporation will be developed, a traditional self-report measure, a pictorial measure, and an open-ended measure. These measures will be developed and validated using samples of web users and college students. After establishing the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of these instruments, predictive validity will be assessed focusing on outcomes such as health-related behaviors such as well being, smoking, and enrollment in smoking cessation programs. Discriminant validity will also be assessed. Tests will be performed to assess main effects (e.g., incorporation is associated with less smoking) as well as interactions (e.g., incorporation is associated with less smoking among some personality types but more smoking among other personality types). The second approach will be test the effectiveness of an intervention designed to reduce smoking behavior. Smokers will be assigned to one of three treatments. Some will be encouraged to distance themselves from the smoker identity. Others will be encouraged to incorporate the smoker identity into their conceptions of self. Still others will be in a baseline control condition. The impact of these manipulations on smoking behavior, well being, and enrollment in smoking cessation programs will be assessed.
