Rescuing Cognitive and Emotional Regulatory Processes to Aid Smoking Prevention

Detailed Summary

The purpose of the current proposal is to investigate the extent to which interventions designed to improve cognitive (working memory) and emotional (distress tolerance) regulatory processes enhance the effectiveness of standard no-smoking informational interventions. Emotional and cognitive dysregulation increases the likelihood of smoking and makes it particularly challenging to benefit from standard interventions. Working memory and associated deficits make it more difficult for individuals to utilize information from interventions, make judicious decisions regarding the cost and benefits of smoking, and to resist targeted advertising. In addition, disruptions in emotion regulatory capacities increase the probability of using cigarettes as a coping mechanism to self-regulate negative affect and stress. Individuals with affective disturbances smoke at higher rates and have more difficulties quitting, and are more likely to smoke as a way to reduce negative affect. The goal of the current project is to generate new insights and new approaches to smoking prevention among low-SES youth by investigating (1) the influence of known SES-related deficits in working memory and affect regulation on proximal measures of smoking risk, and (2) the potential for targeted interventions to reverse these risks. Specifically, the investigators examine the influence of working memory training and distress tolerance (mindfulness) interventions on cognitive/affective targets placing individuals at risk for smoking initiation and maintenance. The specific aims of this study are therefore to investigate: 1. The feasibility and acceptability of school- and community-based brief interventions targeting working memory and distress tolerance in a diverse sample of low SES adolescents. 2. The effects of working memory and distress tolerance interventions, relative to a standard informational intervention alone, on specific cognitive-affective targets-delay discounting and distress tolerance--relevant to cigarette smoking initiation and maintenance. 3. The impact of cognitive /affective target activation on proximal measures of smoking risk/behavior and related health outcomes following intervention.

Study Details

Timeline

Interventions