Response Biases on the IRAP for Adults and Adolescents with Respect to Smokers and Nonsmokers: The Impact of Parental Smoking Status

Abstract

The current research aimed to examine the implicit biases of smokers and nonsmokers to others who did or did not smoke. Study 1 presented adult smokers and nonsmokers with an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) that assessed bias toward or against smokers and nonsmokers. Study 2 replicated this with adolescent smokers and nonsmokers. Both studies also presented self-report measures. Both adult and adolescent smokers produced IRAP effects that indicated prosmoker biases; nonsmokers’ biases were relatively neutral. Trends in the data from Studies 1 and 2 led to a post hoc analysis of the nonsmoker data to investigate the potential impact of parental smoking status on nonsmokers’ biases. Both the IRAP and self-report measures data suggested that parental smoking status increased positivity in attitudes toward smokers among nonsmokers. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses indicated that the IRAP data in Study 1, but not Study 2, predicted smoking status above and beyond the self-report measures. The post hoc analyses showed a similar trend. The consistency of the findings with the only existing IRAP study of attitudes toward smokers, as well as with the broader literature, supports the view that response biases toward smokers may not change fundamentally from adolescence to adulthood, and that parental smoking status may having a moderating influence on these biases.

Appendix A

Nonsmoker Smoking History Assessment

To be filled out by the researcher—Take notes to supplement answers where responses supplement the responses available on the sheet (e.g., any information with a bearing on smoking status).

• 1. What is your cultural ethnicity, date of birth (& today’s), sex, current occupation, and highest level of education (second level, third level, etc.)?

• 2. Have you ever lived in a home where people smoked indoors? Give brief details about whom, when, and for how long.

  Have you ever lived in a home where people smoked outdoors? Give brief details about whom, when, and for how long.

• 3. How often do you usually think about the topic of smoking? Often versus seldom?

  When you do think of the topic of smoking, what do you typically think of?

• 4. If you don’t currently smoke, please describe absolutely any previous experience (when and for how long) you have with smoking, no matter how long ago.

  Then ask on how many occasions (not cigarettes) would they estimate they have smoked on in their lives.

  How long since they last tried a cigarette?

• 5. Do you have any direct experience of the negative consequences of smoking (whether your health or someone in your personal life)? Please provide brief details:

Smoker Smoking History Assessment

To be filled out by the researcher— Take notes to supplement answers where it would provide more information regarding smoking status.

• 1. What is your cultural ethnicity, date of birth, sex, current occupation, and current level of education (second level, third level, etc.)?

• 2. At what time was your last cigarette? (Take note of time at intake and also current time and how long slept during that period.)

• 3. How old were you when you first started smoking cigarettes FAIRLY REGULARLY? (Enter “X” if never smoked regularly.)

• 4. How old were you when you first started to buy cigarettes FAIRLY REGULARLY? (Enter “X” if never smoked regularly.)

• 5. Do you buy cigarettes on a regular basis (on more days than not)?

• 6. On how many of the past 30 days did you smoke cigarettes?

  0–10 days 10–20 days 20–30 days 30 days

• 7. During the past 30 days, on the days you smoked, how many cigarettes do you think you smoked on average each day?

  Between ___ and ___ per day.

  Are you currently smoking as usual or more or less cigarettes per day than is usual for you?

  

  Please give details of daily cigarette consumption CURRENTLY versus USUALLY (get ranges as before) and reasons for any differences (e.g., just money or because of quitting concerns; extrinsic versus intrinsic):

• 8. How long ago did your most recent attempt to QUIT smoking START?

  (Get participant to provide their best recall of date when they relapsed and calculate how long ago this was.)

  During this quit attempt, for how long were you able to quit?

• 9. When did you last try to REDUCE how much you smoked?

  (Get participant to provide their best recall how long ago it was when they started this attempt.)

  During this attempt to reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke, how long were you able to maintain the reduction in your cigarette consumption?

• 10. How many times in the past 12 months have you made what you would consider a “serious” attempt to quit smoking?

  Between _______ and _______ times

• 11. How many times in your life have you made what you would consider a “serious” attempt to quit smoking?

  Between _______ and _______ times

• 12. In the past 12 months, how many times have you quit smoking for at least 24 hours?

  Between _______ and _______ times

• 13. How many times in your life have you quit smoking for at least 24 hours?

  Between _______ and _______ times

• 14. What information resource or professional support have you previously used to help you stop smoking? Please give details of type and length of support, how well it worked, and how long ago: