Self-efficacy for recovery from a lapse after smoking cessation

Self-efficacy for avoiding any lapse after smoking cessation has often been found to predict maintaining abstinence. We measured recent ex-smokers' self-efficacy for recovery of abstinence (SER) after an initial lapse by using the articulated thoughts during simulated situations (ATSS; Davison, Robins, & Johnson, 1983) paradigm. Subjects with moderate SER maintained abstinence nonsignificantly longer than did those with high SER, significantly longer than those with low SER. This result is consistent with Bandura's (1986) hypothesis that SER should be high enough that ex-smokers do not become hopeless if a lapse occurs, yet not so high that they are tempted to experiment with smoking. The discussion focuses on measurement and conceptualization of SER, in particular its distinctiveness from response-outcome expectations.