Date of Award
2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Psychology
Specialization
Behavioral Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Joseph Rossi
Abstract
The situational temptations for smoking inventory assesses the degree of temptation a person might feel to smoke across a variety of situations found to be important for smoking cessation. The temptations measure with four subscales, Positive/Social (PS), Habit Strength (HS), Negative/Affective (NA), and Weight Concerns (WC), was previously validated among adolescent smokers. The measure that has been validated in adults includes only the PS, HS, and NA subscales, although weight concerns are also salient to adults who smoke and have been negatively associated with smoking cessation. This study examines the psychometric validity of the temptations measure with the addition of the WC subscale, including stability of the measurement model, using a population-based sample of adults who reported being current smokers (N = 2921, age range 18–82 years, 68.6% white, 55.3% female). Participants in the sample had complete data for the measure, and those with extreme response patterns were deleted. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) showed that theoretically based four-factor (PS, HS, NA, WC) models fit the measure well (CFI: .967, RMSEA: .052), with moderate to high internal consistency for all subscales (α .55 – .91). Multiple sample CFA established that the factor structure of the temptations measure was invariant across population subgroups defined by gender, age, racial identity, ethnicity, stage of change for smoking cessation, baseline smoking severity, and weight status. Measurement invariance testing using multiple sample analyses of mean and covariance structures showed that the invariance models fit well across stage of change, racial identity, ethnicity, and weight status at the level of strong measurement invariance. These results indicate a consistent relationship between the four factors (PS, HS, NA, WC) of the situational temptations for smoking measure, and the twelve items that serve as their measured indicators, confirming the internal validity of the measure in adult smokers. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a small but significant effect of stage of change on the temptations subscale scores, demonstrating that the temptations measure can differentiate between adult smokers in the early stages of change for cessation.
Recommended Citation
Yin, Hui-Qing, "Psychometric Validation of the Four Factor Situational Temptations for Smoking Inventory in Adult Smokers" (2013). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 12.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/12
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