SELF-CONCEPT AND DEFENSIVE STYLE IN USERS OF ASSISTED AND UNASSISTED METHODS TO STOP SMOKING (CESSATION, SELF-CHANGES)
Abstract
Schachter (1982) suggested that people who stop smoking without formal assistance are a different population than those who use assistance. The present study addressed Schachter's question by assessing self-concept and defensive style differences between four groups of people who had attempted to stop smoking. Eighty adult participants were classified according to their use of assistance in and the outcome of their attempt to stop smoking. There were 20 participants in each of the following groups; unassisted-successful, unassisted-failed, assisted-successful, and assisted-failed. Self-concept theory suggests that behavior is influenced by self-concept and research on defensive style suggests that self-concept is influenced by defensive style. It was hypothesized that people who stopped without assistance would have higher self-concepts than those who used assistance. It was hypothesized further that there would be a method (i.e., assisted or unassisted) by outcome (i.e., success or failure) interaction effect with unassisted-successful participants obtaining the highest self-concept scores of all groups. In addition, it was expected that assisted-successful participants would have a more sensitizing defensive style than all other participants. Two self-report measures were chosen; the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) and the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) scale. The relationship between the TSCS and the R-S scale was also examined as was the internal validity of the TSCS. Contrary to the hypotheses regarding differences between the groups analysis of variance and t-test procedures indicated that all four groups were similar in both means scores of the TSCS and R-S scales and in correlations of the TSCS by the R-S scale. Within all four groups the TSCS and the R-S Scale were strongly correlated indicating that high self-concept is positively related to repression as predicted. There was an unexpected age trend in the results, with age being positively correlated with repression. Additionally, the participants in the present study were older and their R-S scores indicated that they were more repressed than the original sample which supports the idea that age and repression are positive related. It was concluded that self-report measures were not adequate for the present study and that differences between the groups may have existed immediately after the participants quit dates, but may have faded over time. It was suggested that further research is necessary to identify the factors that discriminate between those who choose assisted-methods and those who choose unassisted-methods.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
STUART, CATHERINE, "SELF-CONCEPT AND DEFENSIVE STYLE IN USERS OF ASSISTED AND UNASSISTED METHODS TO STOP SMOKING (CESSATION, SELF-CHANGES)" (1986). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8615699.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8615699
