Personality organization mediates the relationship between negative primary emotions and tobacco use

The use of nicotine poses a global health risk, both for users and often also for those around them. The use of nicotine products is well described in the literature, particularly as a means of emotion regulation and performance enhancement. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of personality organization on the relationship between negative emotions and tobacco use (TU) in more detail. A sample of 490 individuals, who were on average 28 years old (SD = 10.85) and predominantly female (77.3 %), completed questionnaires to assess primary emotions (PE), personality organization (PO) and TU. Correlation analysis and structural equation modelling was applied to examine the role of PE and PO in TU. The final model explained approximately 6 % of the variance in TU and revealed that negative primary affects such as SADNESS and ANGER had indirect effects on TU that were mediated by PO, which in turn showed direct effects on TU. The results of this study underscore previous findings suggesting that specifically negative emotions may play an important role in addictive disorders and hint a connection to PO as well. Along these lines, TU is suggested as a dysfunctional attempt to regulate negative affects, which could be targeted in therapeutic interventions.