The Effects of a Psychological Stressor on Cigarette Smoking and Subsequent Behavioral and Physiological Responses

Abstract

Stressful stimuli have been reported to trigger increased smoking. The present experiment involved induction of differing levels of performance anxiety in 10 male smokers. In the high anxiety condition, subjects performed mental arithmetic with competitive pressure; in the low anxiety control condition, no competitive pressure was applied. Both sessions included smoking and sham smoking trials. Scores on the Profile of Mood States showed significantly more anxiety on the day of the high anxiety session than on the day of the low anxiety session, confirming the effectiveness of anxiety-induction procedures. Nicotine intake as inferred from topographical measures was significantly greater under conditions of high anxiety. Greater post-smoking decreases in anxiety in the high-anxiety condition, as compared to the low-anxiety condition and the two sham-smoking conditions, were also observed. Both smoking and anxiety level significantly increased heart rate; lack of statistical interaction suggests additive rather than potentiating effects. Peripheral skin temperature rose in response to mental arithmetic, a trend counteracted by smoking. No significant smoking-related changes in performance were found