Changes in the relative reinforcing effects of cigarette smoking as a function of initial abstinence

Experimental research is needed in investigating how early smoking abstinence affects relapse risk.

The present study assessed the feasibility of promoting smoking abstinence using once- rather than thrice-daily abstinence monitoring and the relationship between different durations of initial abstinence and changes in smoking preference.

Participants were 34 adult smokers randomized into one of two conditions: 14-day (14C) and 1-day (1C) contingent payment for smoking abstinence. Smoking status and participant ratings were assessed daily; a delay discounting task involving hypothetical money and an inter-temporal choice task involving hypothetical money and cigarettes were administered at baseline and days 7 and 14; a direct test of preference for smoking versus money was assessed on day 14.

Once-daily monitoring gained robust experimental control over smoking abstinence. No differences in delay discounting for hypothetical money were observed between the two conditions. Compared to the 1C condition, participants in the 14C condition (1) showed significant increases in the mean percent of delayed hypothetical money over cigarettes choices in the inter-temporal choice task, (2) were significantly less likely to ever choose the smoking option in the direct test of preference for smoking versus money, and (3) reported greater ease of abstaining from smoking and lower nicotine withdrawal and craving.

These results offer a more efficient procedure for experimentally promoting smoking abstinence, while providing further evidence that an initial period of sustained abstinence produces a profile of changes consistent with an overall lowering of relapse risk.