The Importance of Partner Support and Psychological Status in Smoking Cessation

Objective: The habit of smoking is more common in members of a family living in the same house. People with psychiatric symptoms smoke more cigarettes. We conducted a study to examine whether the psychological status of couples and partner support affects smoking cessation success.
Methods: The outpatients who started taking a therapy for smoking cessation between July 2014 and January 2015 in our clinic were included in this prospective, single-center study. Each couple was assessed on the basis of the Marital Adjustment Scale (MAS) and Hospital Anxiety-Depression Scale (HADS). The smoking status of the participants was assessed after 6 months, and they filled out the Partner Interaction Questionnaire (PIQ).
Results: Of 141 volunteers, 55% joined the smoking cessation program as couples. A total of 55.3% of the participants managed to quit smoking. Further, 42.3% of couples quitted smoking. Nearly 96.2% of couples had the same result regarding smoking cessation. The smoking cessation rate was significantly lower in couples with high anxiety depression scores (participant: p=0.028 and 0.037; partner: p=0.003 and 0.007), smoker partners (p<0.01), and participants with low marital adjustments (p<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that the independent parameters affecting smoking cessation success were support and the smoking status of partners (p<0.001 and 0.021, respectively).
Conclusion: Partner support and psychological status were important parameters associated with smoking cessation. The presence of non-smoker partners made quitting smoking easier. Reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms and support of partners may help in smoking cessation.