Validation of a contextualized assessment of smoking behaviour in students

AIMS: The aim of this study was to validate an audio simulation of culture-specific social contexts associated with smoking to provide a medium for researchers to investigate social-contextual influences on tobacco use in the laboratory.

METHODS: Eighty-one students (34.6% men; n = 28) listened to five audio simulations of peer social contexts where offers to smoke tobacco were made [Smoking Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation (S-SIDE)]. For each social scenario, participants answered questions about their willingness to accept the offer to smoke and completed measures of smoking cognitions and tobacco use. Thirty days later, participants completed online assessments of smoking behaviour.

RESULTS: Willingness to accept smoking offers in the S-SIDE procedure was related to smoking at both time-points (T1: r₍₈₁₎ = 0.37, P < 0.001;T2: r₍₈₁₎ = 0.36, P = 0.001). Performance on the simulation improved prediction of smoking at 1 month follow-up over and above smoking expectancies, F_(2,74) = 4.27, P = 0.02; R² = 0.21; ΔR² = 0.09, as well as other indices of smoking willingness, F_(2,75) = 4.22, P = 0.02; R² = 0.22: ΔR² = 0.09, while neither expectancies nor willingness was related to smoking above and beyond the simulation.

CONCLUSIONS: Social context plays an important role in smoking-related decision-making and simulated social contexts have potential for the study of context-related decision-making in addiction.