The Relation Between Self-esteem And Smoking Motivation Among Smokers:Perceived Stress And Coping Styles As Mediators

Smoking is one of the causes of individuals' disability and deaths.China is the country with the largest tobacco production and consumption in the world,and smoking has caused a serious economic and medical burden on China.Although China has adopted anti-smoking measures,it is still very difficult for smokers to quit smoking successfully.Therefore,we must understand the psychological mechanism of smoking development clearly and comprehensively in order to provide a new guiding theory for smoking cessation work.Based on the predecessors' theory and clinical experience,this study proposes hypotheses about the internal psychological mechanism of smoking behavior.They are as follows:(1)Self-esteem can significantly predict motivation for smoking,and perceived stress can partially mediate the effect of self-esteem on motivation for smoking.(2)Self-esteem can significantly predict motivation for smoking,perceived stress and positive coping styles have a chain mediating effect of self-esteem on motivation for smoking.(3)Self-esteem can significantly predict motivation for smoking,perceived stress and negative coping styles have a chain mediating effect of self-esteem on motivation for smoking.Based on the reference to domestic and foreign literature and scales,Study 1formed a three-dimensional and 21-item smoking motivation questionnaire.The questionnaire was administered to 462 smokers and 395 valid questionnaires were obtained.After exploratory factor analysis,the retest questionnaire for 18 items wasobtained.Then,another 650 smokers were tested for the retest questionnaire,and 617 valid questionnaires were obtained.After confirmatory factor analysis,the questionnaire proved to be reliable and effective.Study 2 used a self-compiled smoking motivation scale,self-esteem scale(SES),Chinese perceived stress scale(CPSS),and simple coping styles questionnaire(SCSQ)to test 803 smokers and 758 valid questionnaires were obtained.The study verified the chain mediating effect of perceived stress and different coping styles on self-esteem and smoking motivation through the method of structural equation model.The conclusions are as follows:(1)The smoking motivation scale has 18 items,which adopts a five-point scoring rule and has good reliability and validity.The questionnaire is divided into psychological dimension,physiological dimension and social dimension.The interpretation rate was 57.74%.The Cronbach ? of the scale is 0.91,and the internal consistency coefficient of each dimension is between 0.81 and 0.87.(2)Self-esteem can significantly predict motivation for smoking,perceived stress and positive coping styles have a chain mediating effect of self-esteem on motivation for smoking.(3)Self-esteem can significantly predict motivation for smoking,perceived stress and negative coping styles have a chain mediating effect of self-esteem on motivation for smoking.In summary,this study explores the psychological mechanism of smoking behavior from the perspective of smokers' self-esteem,perceived stress and coping styles.The negative self-concept of the smoker is the personality basis of the smoking behavior,and the tension and loss of control caused by stress and the negative coping styles make this behavior recurring,which ultimately leads to the smoker's physical and mental dependence on tobacco.Smoking cessation treatment for smokers can be carried out in terms of self-growth,stress management and response management.