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Further evidence that tobacco smoking correlates with schizotypal and borderline personality traits

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to replicate work by Williams et al. [Williams, J. H., Wellman, N. A., Allan, L. M., Taylor, E., Tonin, J., Feldon, J., & Rawlins, J. N. P. (1996). Tobacco smoking correlates with schizotypal and borderline personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 267–270.] which showed that tobacco smoking was associated with schizotypal and borderline traits. One hundred and ninety-two respondents completed the Schizotypal Traits Questionnaire (STA) and the Borderline Personality Questionnaire (STB). It was found that higher scores on these instruments were associated with greater tobacco consumption even when sex and age were partialled out.

Introduction

Tobacco smoking has been shown to be associated with personality traits, with smokers scoring higher on extraversion (e.g. Cherry and Kiernan, 1976, Helgason et al., 1995), neuroticism (e.g. Cherry and Kiernan, 1976, McCrae et al., 1978, Spielberger and Jacobs, 1982) and psychoticism (e.g. Eysenck and Eaves, 1980, Gilbert, 1988, Golding et al., 1983, McManus and Weeks, 1982).

Extending this line of enquiry, a recent study by Williams and colleagues found that tobacco smoking was associated with higher scores on schizotypal and borderline traits (Williams et al., 1996). The aim of the present study was to replicate the study by Williams et al. in order to confirm the association between tobacco use and schizotypal and borderline traits.

Williams et al. used the STA developed by Claridge and Broks (1984) to assess schizotypal traits. However, the STA can also be used to yield three subscale scores for unusual perceptual experiences, paranoid ideation and suspiciousness, and magical ideation (Hewitt and Claridge, 1989, Joseph and Peters, 1995) and so we were also interested in whether differences between smokers and non-smokers would be found across all schizotypy subscales. One other study has found a difference between smokers and non-smokers on paranoid ideation (Schifano, Forza & Gallimberti, 1994) and it is possible that any differences in schizotypal traits between smokers and non-smokers is attributable to only those items assessing paranoid ideation.

Section snippets

Subjects and method

One hundred and ninety-two respondents (103 males, 88 females, one missing), in attendance at the University of Essex and ranging in age from 18 to 58 (mean=22.9, S.D.=6.1), completed the Schizotypal Traits Questionnaire (STA) and the Borderline Personality Questionnaire (STB) (Claridge & Broks, 1984) as well as a question asking how many cigarettes were usually smoked on a daily basis. Respondents reported smoking between 0 and 50 cigarettes per day (mean=10.70, S.D.=11.05).

In the present

Results and discussion

Respondents were grouped into smokers, i.e., those reporting smoking at least one cigarette per day (n=120) and non-smokers, i.e. those reporting not smoking any cigarettes per day (n=72) and t-tests for differences between each group conducted on the STA and the STB (see Table 1).

Smokers were found to score higher on the STA and the STB than non-smokers. Smokers scored higher than non-smokers on all of the STA subscales. It is known that tobacco smoking and schizotypal traits vary with sex and

References (13)

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