A new questionnaire designed to measure tobacco dependence, the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68), has uncovered surprising variability in the reasons people smoke.

"There is a great deal we don't know about tobacco dependence," says Megan Piper, a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and lead author of the article. "This measure helps us understand why people smoke and points us toward more individualized treatment for tobacco users."

Previous measures concentrated primarily on physical dependence, including questions about number of cigarettes smoked, smoking upon waking and smoking when ill. The WISDM-68 provides a more complete picture of smokers by rating responses to questions in 13 areas, including emotional attachment to smoking (cigarettes are my best friends), response to other smokers (most of the people I spend time with are smokers), smoking to relieve stress, smoking for mental stimulation (I smoke to keep my mind focused), and smoking automatically (I smoke without thinking about it). The 68-question measure was developed by the University of Wisconsin Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center.

Of special interest in this study were two groups of smokers-novice and experienced. Novice smokers (those who smoked fewer cigarettes over their lifetime) seemed to be more influenced by environment and sensation. Their motivations to smoke included: being in a smoking environment, cues (sights or smells) that encourage someone to smoke, and the taste and sensation of smoking. The experienced smokers were more influenced by cravings, automatic smoking, the need to smoke even when knowing the negative health effects, the use of smoking to enhance
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Contact: Chris Hollenback
Ch3@ctri.medicine.wisc.edu
608-262-3902
University of Wisconsin-Madison
20-May-2004