PERSONALITY AND SMOKING MOTIVATION OF UNITED-STATES SMOKERS AS MEASURED BY THE STATE TRAIT PERSONALITY-INVENTORY, THE EYSENCK PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE, AND SPIELBERGER SMOKING MOTIVATION QUESTIONNAIRE

The State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and Spielberger's Smoking Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) were administered to 922 U.S. smokers. Neuroticism (N) scores were comparable to published U.K. norms, while Extraversion (E) scores were higher and Psychoticism (P) scores lower. E was related and N inversely related to income. STPI Trait Anxiety scores were higher than published U.S. norms, with a greater sex difference. Trait Anger was higher than published norms, while Trait Curiosity had a greater sex difference. Scores on all scales of the SMQ except anxiety smoking motivation were higher than published U.S. norms. This indicates that U.S. smokers today (relative to several years ago) are 'more motivated' on a variety of dimensions, most related to psychological benefits derived from smoking (e.g. anger control), rather than being 'more addicted'.