Personality Differences Between Smokers and Nonsmokers

Abstract

A total of 304 senior students attending the Newton Public High School were given a group psychological test, the Minnesota Counseling Inventory, in an attempt to measure personality differences between those who smoked, had stopped smoking, or who did not smoke. Among boys, smokers, and particularly heavy smokers, had less satisfactory relationships with authority in general and parents in particular than did nonsmokers. Girls who smoked heavily gave a picture similar to that of all boys who smoked. However, girls who smoked were apparently more cheerful and self-confident than those who did not smoke. Item analysis of the inventory shows marked differences in response to questions by sex and smoking category of student. A very important social drive in this age group is the need for status or prestige. Children who are less well adjusted in the field of family relations and adult authority are more likely to seek security in the company of their peers and to use a cigarette which at one and the same time symbolizes adulthood, superiority, and defiance.