The Roles of Temptation Strength and Self-efficacy in Predicting Smoking Cessation Attempts

This paper examines the predictive value of self-efficacy and strength of temptations in determining whether a person will try to give up smoking, and successfully do so for at least one day. Participants were 62 smokers calling a quit-smoking telephone service. They were assessed by self-report questionnaires by telephone. Fifty-six per cent had made an attempt to stop smoking within 3 weeks. Measures of self-efficacy to quit smoking and strength of temptations to smoke were not closely related. Multivariate analyses revealed that after intention to quit entered the equation, self-efficacy was inversely related to making a quit attempt, as was temptation strength and extent of addiction. This study extends previous work that showed self-efficacy has a complex relationship with making quit attempts by showing that self-efficacy operates quite differently from strength of temptations. This may be because measures of self-efficacy, when made in the context of intention to act, contain a motivational component as well as an assessment of skills to resist temptations.