Relationships between stages of change in cigarette smokers and healthy lifestyle behaviors in a population of young military personnel during forcedsmoking abstinence

This study evaluated the relationships between stages of change and related health behaviors in a population of smokers forced to quit smoking. Partic ipants were 10,136 Air Force recruits who were in basic military training ( BMT) and who were not allowed to smoke because of a ban on smoking during B MT. Participants were surveyed about their smoking history, their motivatio n and readiness to remain smoke free after BMT, and their behavior on 5 tar get health areas. Results indicated that smoking history best predicted sta ge of change. Though there were few gender differences, several ethnic diff erences emerged. These results suggest that, although stages of change invo lve both a cognitive and behavioral component, removing the behavioral comp onent (smoking) through a smoking ban does not reduce the construct validit y of the transtheoretical model.