The Role of Social Phobia Disorder among Cigarette Addicts in Abstaining from Cessation Programs

Abstract

The increasing reluctance of cessation programs by cigarette smoking addicts with social disorder necessitates a smoking curb strategy. This paper aims to investigate the reason for the reluctance of cigarette addicts with social phobia disorder to quit cessation programs by comparing affected and uninfected smokers, and verifies that negative thoughts, pain, and stress contribute to refraining from these programs. The quantitative method was followed, and the sample of participants consisted of 191 current smokers, and their ages ranged between 18-45 years, with an average of 22.7, and those with social phobia were diagnosed with the current smokers, whose numbers are 111, or 58.12%, and as for the non-infected, their numbers are 80 current smokers or 41.88%, and for the purpose of verifying the goal of the study, the cigarette smoking addiction scale, the cessation program reluctance scale, and the Rollin Wei scale of social phobia were used, t-test for comparison between independent groups, and using a logistic regression coefficient to determine the relative contribution and effect size. Test results indicated t-test to the outweighing of people infected over people with no social phobia disorder in the level of cigarette smoking addiction and its sub-dimensions, as the results of the logistic regression analysis showed in terms of standard β value an increase in negative thoughts and expectation of pain is accompanied by an increase in reluctance to quit the cessation programs with a standard degree not exceeding 42%, while an increase in the psychological stress variable is accompanied by a reluctance to quit the cessation programs with a standard degree not exceeding 25%. The results indicate that one of the most important barriers to quitting smoking for people with social phobia is embodied in negative thoughts and stress, and thus it may be a source of changing the strategy of quitting the cessation programs by focusing on changing the distorted cognitive structure and promoting a positive self-concept as part of quit interventions.