The Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire-Italian Version: Analysis of psychometric properties

The Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire is a quick and reliable scale assessing the expected consequences of short-term nicotine abstinence. The present study sought to translate the Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire to Italian and assess its psychometric properties. A sample of 366 daily smokers (59.3% female; mean (±standard deviation) age = 34.0 ± 11.2 years; mean (±standard deviation) cigarettes smoked per day = 13.2 ± 7.5; mean (±standard deviation) years of smoking = 11.3 ± 9.2 years) completed the Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire and a series of rating scales measuring nicotine dependence, alcohol use, anxiety, and depressive symptoms at baseline and after 3 months (retest). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The authors evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity. Factor analysis identified a 3-factor solution and confirmatory factor analysis suggested a 3-factor model best fits the data. The Italian version of the Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire showed excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. There also was evidence of convergent validity and discriminant validity. The Italian version of the Smoking Abstinence Expectancies Questionnaire showed good psychometric properties although the factor structure differs slightly from the English-language version of the scale (i.e., 3 versus 4 factor model).