Preliminary Examination of Adolescent Spending in a Contingency Management Based Smoking Cessation Program

Contingency management (CM) utilizing monetary incentives is efficacious in enhancing abstinence in an adolescent smoking cessation program, but how adolescents spend their money has not been examined. We assessed spending habits of 38 adolescent smokers in a CM-based smoking cessation project prior to quitting and during treatment using a questionnaire about spending in a number of categories, including cigarettes, other addictive substances, durable goods, and disposable goods. Our preliminary results indicate that participation in a CM based program for smoking cessation did not lead to greater spending on cigarettes and other substances and may have produced more socially acceptable spending.