Causes of abstinent smoking behavior (I), nicotine dependence and environmental stressors

It is generally believed that the difficulty in completely abstaining from smoking is caused by the effects of nicotine contained in the tobacco. The relationship between physical and psychological dependence on nicotine, and factors related to the success in completely abstaining from smoking, as well as environmental stressors related to smoking were investigated. We defined the cutoff point for having given up smoking as 1.5 years. People that were abstinent from smoking after this period (n = 402; Mean age, 49.72 years, SD = 11.49 years) and those that had resumed smoking (n = 425; Mean age, 44.78 years, SD = 12.80 years) were investigated. Examination for physical dependence on nicotine was conducted based on the diagnostic standards for nicotine-separation in the DSM-IV. Nicotine dependence was examined using the ICD-10. Results indicated that physical dependence on nicotine was found only in 2.88% of those that were abstinent. Conversely, nicotine dependence accounted for 14.04% of smokers, and was higher than physical dependence. Moreover, those that resumed smoking were in high stress environments compared to those that were successfully abstaining from smoking. Differences in environmental stressor were considered to have an effect on the success of completely abstaining from smoking.