Tobacco Smoking, Nicotine and Negative Affect Relief

描述(由申请人提供)：吸烟的关键强化作用被认为是迅速缓解负面情绪(焦虑、悲伤、易怒等)。吸烟明显缓解了戒烟(即戒烟)带来的负面影响，戒烟后的负面影响增加了复发的风险。然而，目前还不清楚吸烟是否能有效缓解戒烟以外的“源头”带来的负面影响，比如吸烟者在自然环境中通常会感受到的环境压力。由于临床研究固有的局限性，这个问题最好通过控制良好的实验室研究来解决。需要的是一项实验室研究，它包括不止一个负面情绪来源，以便在相同的受试者样本中，使用相同的负面情绪衡量标准，在相同的实验程序下，比较不同来源的结果。这是当前提案的重要而新颖的目标：审查负面情绪与吸烟之间的关系在多大程度上取决于这种负面情绪的来源。我们将使用四种不同的方法来短暂地诱导负面情绪。这些程序的需求在关键方面有所不同(例如，积极应对与不积极应对)，并将帮助我们确定吸烟与负面影响相关的条件。此外，200名吸烟者将被随机分配到三组中的一组，这些组在吸烟和/或尼古丁暴露方面存在差异(即受试者之间的因素)，即：吸食尼古丁香烟、吸食非尼古丁香烟或根本不吸烟。这些群体之间的比较将确定吸烟和负面影响之间的联系是尼古丁本身还是吸烟行为本身，而不是尼古丁(暗示有条件作用)。情感将通过多个反应领域进行评估：自我报告、心理生理和行为。主要的具体目的是考察：1)急性吸烟是否缓解负性情绪作为来源的函数，2)负面情绪诱导是否作为来源的函数增加吸烟行为，以及3)负面情绪缓解与随后的吸烟行为之间的关联。在第二个目标中，我们将：4)探索这些影响的个体差异。如果吸烟能消除所有四种来源的负面影响，这将强化一个普遍持有但很少被证明的概念，即吸烟实际上在几乎所有情况下都能强烈地缓解负面影响。然而，如果吸烟有选择地缓解负面情绪，这一发现将表明吸烟缓解负面情绪的能力仅限于特定的条件。最后，如果情感缓解与吸烟行为的结果不一致(即，目标3)，传统的负面强化解释在负面情绪期间吸烟增加的解释将需要重新考虑，并证明其他解释是合理的。总而言之，这项研究将有助于解决吸烟为什么会加剧的根本问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A critical reinforcing effect of cigarette smoking is believed to be acute relief of negative affect (anxiety, sadness, irritability, etc.). Smoking clearly relieves negative affect caused by smoking abstinence (i.e. withdrawal), and negative affect after quitting smoking increases the risk of relapse. However, it is not clear that smoking acutely relieves negative affect from "sources" other than abstinence, such as environmental stressors, which smokers commonly experience in the natural environment. Due to limitations inherent in clinical research, this question may best be addressed with well-controlled laboratory research. What is needed is a lab study that includes more than one source of negative affect so that results across different sources can be compared within the same subject sample, using the same measures of negative affect, and under the same experimental procedures. This is the important and novel objective of the current proposal: to examine the degree to which the relationship between negative affect and smoking depends on the source of that negative affect. We will employ four different procedures to briefly induce negative mood. Demands of these procedures vary in key ways (e.g. active coping vs. no active coping) and will help us determine the conditions under which smoking is associated with negative affect. In addition, the 200 smoking subjects will be randomly assigned to one of three groups that differ in smoking and/or nicotine exposure (i.e. between-subjects factor), those who: smoke a nicotine cigarette, smoke a denicotinized cigarette, or do not smoke at all. Comparisons among these groups will determine whether nicotine per se or smoking behavior alone, without nicotine (suggesting conditioned effects), is responsible for the associations between smoking and negative affect. Affect will be assessed via multiple response domains: self-report, psycho physiological, and behavioral. Primary specific aims are to examine: 1) whether acute tobacco smoking relieves negative affect as a function of source, 2) whether negative mood induction increases smoking behavior as a function of source, and 3) the association between negative affect relief and subsequent smoking behavior. In a secondary aim, we will: 4) explore individual differences in these effects. If smoking relieves negative affect from all four sources, this will strengthen the commonly held, but rarely demonstrated, notion that smoking does in fact acutely relieve negative affect, under virtually all conditions. However, if smoking relieves negative affect selectively, this finding will suggest that smoking's ability to relieve negative affect is limited to only certain conditions. Finally, if results for affect relief versus smoking behavior are inconsistent (i.e., aim #3), the traditional negative reinforcement explanation for the increase in smoking during negative mood will need to be reconsidered, warranting other explanations. In sum, this research will help address the fundamental question of why cigarette smoking is reinforcing.