PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND CIGARETTE-SMOKING BEHAVIOR IN POLISH AND UNITED-STATES ADOLESCENTS

To contribute to the design of adequate intervention and prevention pr ograms, data on smoking behavior were collected from over 300 male and female 15 year olds from Poland and the United States, approximately half from each country. Several personality measures were obtained fro m each subject. Fifty of these students were already smoking and over 100 more had tried cigarettes. Results indicate that for both countrie s, smokers had a characteristic personality profile which included bei ng anxious, angry, and impulsive/antisocial. In short they appear to b e emotionally distressed and females were more extreme than males in t his regard. Possible intervention and prevention strategies and future needed research are discussed.