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Smoking behaviour and personality: a population-based study in Japan
1Department of Public Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
|August 1, 1997
Summary
This study found that personality traits like Extraversion and Psychoticism are linked to smoking behaviors in Japan. Higher Psychoticism scores were associated with heavier smoking and earlier initiation ages.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Previous research linked personality traits to smoking in Western populations.
- The applicability of these findings to a general Japanese population remained unconfirmed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if established personality-trait-smoking correlations apply to a general Japanese population.
- To explore links between personality characteristics and smoking patterns (age of initiation, daily consumption) in Japanese adults.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Miyagi prefecture, Japan.
- 20,538 residents aged 40-64 completed a self-administered questionnaire.
- Smoking status, patterns, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) were assessed.
Main Results:
- Current and former smokers scored higher on Extraversion and Psychoticism than non-smokers.
- Individuals with higher Psychoticism were more likely to be heavy smokers.
- Smokers who started before the legal age also exhibited higher Psychoticism.
Conclusions:
- Findings confirm that personality traits associated with smoking in Western countries are also relevant in Japan.
- Current smokers represent a heterogeneous group regarding Psychoticism, influenced by smoking initiation age and consumption levels.