Personality Factor Correlates of Smoking Cessation Efficacy Among Electronic Cigarette Users

Increasingly, e-cigarettes are being used and claimed to be an effective means of smoking cessation. Clinical studies have been limited to the aspects of use pertaining to chemical dependence, yet little addiction research has examined the psychology of smoking cessation behavior utilizing e-cigarettes. Health behaviors, such as harm reduction in smoking through the use of nicotine replacement therapies, have been previously studied and several dispositional traits have been found to be highly related to these behaviors. These personality factors include Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, Self-Efficacy, Grit, and Hardiness. The present study aimed to determine psychological traits related to successful smoking cessation utilizing e-cigarettes using measures of NEO-FFI-3, GSE, DRS-II, and Grit-S. Results indicated that Self-Efficacy was a noteworthy factor associated with cessation with 6 months or more of e-cigarette use. A majority of the study participants did not concurrently smoke and use e-cigarettes. These findings support the potential of e-cigarettes as a replacement therapy and provide some insight into formulating interventions toward this end; however, smoking cessation attempts appeared to be inhibited from full success as a result of the efficacy of the replacement.