Associations between morning affect and later-day smoking urges and behavior.

Abstract

Objective: Affective experiences are associated with smoking urges and behavior. Few studies have examined the temporal nature of these associations within a day, such as whether positive and negative affect in the morning are associated with smoking urges and behavior later in the day. Method: Participants (N = 63; M Age = 50 years, 48% female; 60% White) were randomized into one of three smoking cessation interventions and answered up to five daily ecological momentary assessments for 28 days during a quit attempt (M = 21.0 days, SD = 7.1). Before analysis, scores for morning positive and negative affect and later-day smoking urges and behavior were calculated. Results: On days when individuals' morning positive affect was higher than usual, later-day smoking urges tended to be lower than usual. In contrast, on days when individuals' morning negative affect was higher than usual, later-day smoking urges tended to be higher than usual, and smoking was more likely. Further, individuals who had higher characteristic morning positive affect tended to have less intense later-day smoking urges, whereas those who tended to have higher characteristic morning negative affect tended to have more intense later-day smoking urges. Conclusions: Morning positive and negative affect were associated with later-day smoking urges, and morning negative affect was related to later-day smoking behavior. Future research should examine whether interventions that boost positive affect on mornings when it is lower than usual and attenuate negative affect on mornings when it is higher than usual, may reduce the intensity of smoking urges and the likelihood of smoking later in the day. Public Health Significance StatementThis study indicates that individuals who experience higher than usual negative affect on a given morning may be at heightened risk for smoking urges and smoking behavior later in the day, whereas on mornings when individuals experience higher than usual positive affect, their risk for smoking urges later in the day may be reduced. These findings suggest that even if negative affect is heightened overall during a quit attempt, interventions might still support individuals in their smoking cessation goals by catching them on mornings when their negative affect is unusually high and providing just-in-time aid.