Smokers' Narrative Accounts of Quit Attempts: AIDS and Impediments to Success

In this study, the authors used cigarette smokers' narratives describing their quit attempts to understand factors related to the change process. Maintained quitters (MQs, n = 59) and temporary quitters (TQs, n = 47) wrote autobiographical narratives describing their most serious (TQs) or last (MQs) quit attempt. Two types of content analysis were used to analyze the reports: (a) dichotomous ratings of the presence or absence of an event and (b) computerized content analysis of event or word frequency. The valence (anti- or pro-smoking cessation) of change factors was also examined. MQs wrote significantly more affective statements than did TQs. When valence was examined, MQs made significantly more pro-smoking cessation social support, cognitive, and affective statements than TQs did, and TQs made significantly more anti-smoking cessation social support and affective statements than MQs did.