Willingness to provide support for a quit attempt: A study of partners of smokers

Abstract

Support from close others predicts smoking abstinence, yet little research has investigated what factors promote support. This study investigates predictors of support for a quit attempt. Partners of smokers (N = 131) reported their relationship quality, concern for partner's health, own smoking status, and intended support for a quit attempt. Smokers were less supportive than were nonsmokers. Relationship quality, concern for partners' health, and motivation to quit were positively associated, and nicotine dependence was negatively associated, with intended support. The findings suggest that support for smoking cessation depends on one's own smoking behaviors as well as characteristics of the relationship.

The Importance of Partner Support and Psychological Status in Smoking Cessation

“…In addition, smokers with non-smoker partners are more likely to quit smoking (9,19). Smoker partners may be less supportive during their spouse' s attempt to quit because they may think that they have to change their own smoking behaviors (20). Our study, which had the result of low smoking cessation rate with smoker partners, supports this idea.…”

“…It has been demonstrated that marriage quality, concern for the partner's health, and partner motivation for smoking cessation were positively associated with quitting rates (20). Partners who are happy in their relationships are much concerned about their spouse's health and support him/her for quitting smoking.…”

Smoking behavior and social contexts associated with smoking among dual‐smoker couples

“…Moreover, dual‐smoker couples may mutually support both of their smoking, thus they consider smoking beneficial for their relationship and view cessation as a threat (Rohrbaugh et al, ), which may lead to low levels of spousal support for smoking cessation (vanDellen, Boyd, Ranby, MacKillop, & Lipkus, ). Such social contexts can make smoking cessation more challenging and difficult for dual‐smoker couples, yet smoking behavior and social contexts associated with smoking in dual‐smoking couples are poorly studied in the literature.…”

“…Interestingly, the number of clusters of smokers connected in social contexts, such as family members, co-workers and friends has decreased, yet the size of clusters (number of smokers within the clusters) has remained relatively unchanged (Christakis & Fowler, 2008). Such a pattern suggests that a group of smokers-dual-smoker couples-quit together, and one quitter can motivate the others to quit (Boyd, Ranby, MacKillop, & Lipkus, 2016). The most fundamental group of smokers connected in social contexts is married couples, dual-smoker couples.…”

Comparison of internet and mailing methods to recruit couples into research on unaided smoking cessation

“…Recent studies of smoking cessation within couples (single- and dual-smoker) recruited participants through print advertising (LaChance et al, 2015; Lipkus, Ranby, Lewis, & Toll, 2013; Lüscher et al, 2015), television or radio advertising (LaChance et al, 2015), and academic or marketing institutions (Lüscher et al, 2015; Scholz et al, 2013). Newer technology-based methods, like web-based advertising (Lipkus et al, 2013; Lüscher et al, 2015; Scholz et al, 2013) and crowd-sourcing (vanDellen, Boyd, Ranby, MacKillop, & Lipkus, 2015), are becoming common. Specialized mailing methods have successfully recruited drug-using couples (Homish & Leonard, 2009), but such methods are new to research on smoking couples.…”