Weight concerns affect motivation to remain abstinent from smoking postpartum

Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy, most resume smoking postpartum. One factor that may be important in postpartum relapse is a pregnant woman's motivation to remain abstinent after delivery.

We assessed motivation for postpartum abstinence among pregnant women who had quit smoking and examined the relationship of weight concerns and mood to abstinence motivation.

Pregnant former smokers, recruited between February 2000 and November 2004, completed assessments of smoking, weight concerns, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress.

Sixty-five percent were highly motivated to remain abstinent postpartum. Women who were and were not motivated were similar in age, race, and nicotine dependence. However, motivated women reported more stress, greater self-efficacy for weight management, less hunger, and less smoking for weight control than did less motivated women. After controlling for intention to breast-feed, nicotine dependence, years of smoking, partner smoking, and race, self-efficacy for weight control was related to motivation to maintain postpartum abstinence.

These data suggest that weight concerns are associated with motivation for postpartum smoking abstinence, and interventions designed to prevent postpartum smoking relapse may need to target eating, weight, and shape concerns.