Meaning in life: Does it play a role in smoking

Barna Konkolÿ Thege; Yaacov G. Bachner; Tamás Martos; Talma Kushnir

doi:10.3109/10826080802495096

Meaning in life: Does it play a role in smoking

Barna Konkolÿ Thege, Yaacov G. Bachner, Tamás Martos, Talma Kushnir

Sociology of Health

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between a decreased level of meaning in life and smoking. In 2006, 341 Hungarian respondents (48.1 males, 51.9 females) completed a questionnaire that included the Purpose in Life test, a shortened version of the Aspiration Index and the Beck Depression Inventory, as well as questions about sociodemographic characteristics, past year alcohol and illicit drug consumption, and smoking behavior. The mean age of the participants was 33.0 years (SD 14.6), while the average years of education of the respondents was 14.5 (SD 2.7). According to the results of the regression analysis, meaning in life proved to be significant in differentiating between nonsmokers and daily smokers. With regard to the nonsmoker vs. occasional smoker and the daily vs. occasional smoker relationship, level of life meaning was not a significant predictor. The gender-meaning in life interaction was insignificant in all three relations. Limitations of this explorative investigation are noted.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1566-1577
Number of pages	12
Journal	Substance Use and Misuse
Volume	44
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3109/10826080802495096
State	Published - 23 Oct 2009

Keywords

Gender
Hungary
Meaning in life
Risk factor
Smoking status

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Health(social science)
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3109/10826080802495096

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title = "Meaning in life: Does it play a role in smoking",

abstract = "The aim of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between a decreased level of meaning in life and smoking. In 2006, 341 Hungarian respondents (48.1 males, 51.9 females) completed a questionnaire that included the Purpose in Life test, a shortened version of the Aspiration Index and the Beck Depression Inventory, as well as questions about sociodemographic characteristics, past year alcohol and illicit drug consumption, and smoking behavior. The mean age of the participants was 33.0 years (SD 14.6), while the average years of education of the respondents was 14.5 (SD 2.7). According to the results of the regression analysis, meaning in life proved to be significant in differentiating between nonsmokers and daily smokers. With regard to the nonsmoker vs. occasional smoker and the daily vs. occasional smoker relationship, level of life meaning was not a significant predictor. The gender-meaning in life interaction was insignificant in all three relations. Limitations of this explorative investigation are noted.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by the scholarship (2005) of the Viktor Frankl Foundation of the City of Vienna (Konkoly¨ Thege) and by the Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA) under grant number T042574 (Martos). The authors also wish to thank Claudia Cleiman and Irene Zuili for translating the abstract into Spanish and French.",

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AU - Thege, Barna Konkolÿ

AU - Bachner, Yaacov G.

AU - Martos, Tamás

AU - Kushnir, Talma

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the scholarship (2005) of the Viktor Frankl Foundation of the City of Vienna (Konkoly¨ Thege) and by the Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA) under grant number T042574 (Martos). The authors also wish to thank Claudia Cleiman and Irene Zuili for translating the abstract into Spanish and French.

PY - 2009/10/23

Y1 - 2009/10/23

N2 - The aim of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between a decreased level of meaning in life and smoking. In 2006, 341 Hungarian respondents (48.1 males, 51.9 females) completed a questionnaire that included the Purpose in Life test, a shortened version of the Aspiration Index and the Beck Depression Inventory, as well as questions about sociodemographic characteristics, past year alcohol and illicit drug consumption, and smoking behavior. The mean age of the participants was 33.0 years (SD 14.6), while the average years of education of the respondents was 14.5 (SD 2.7). According to the results of the regression analysis, meaning in life proved to be significant in differentiating between nonsmokers and daily smokers. With regard to the nonsmoker vs. occasional smoker and the daily vs. occasional smoker relationship, level of life meaning was not a significant predictor. The gender-meaning in life interaction was insignificant in all three relations. Limitations of this explorative investigation are noted.

AB - The aim of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between a decreased level of meaning in life and smoking. In 2006, 341 Hungarian respondents (48.1 males, 51.9 females) completed a questionnaire that included the Purpose in Life test, a shortened version of the Aspiration Index and the Beck Depression Inventory, as well as questions about sociodemographic characteristics, past year alcohol and illicit drug consumption, and smoking behavior. The mean age of the participants was 33.0 years (SD 14.6), while the average years of education of the respondents was 14.5 (SD 2.7). According to the results of the regression analysis, meaning in life proved to be significant in differentiating between nonsmokers and daily smokers. With regard to the nonsmoker vs. occasional smoker and the daily vs. occasional smoker relationship, level of life meaning was not a significant predictor. The gender-meaning in life interaction was insignificant in all three relations. Limitations of this explorative investigation are noted.

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KW - Smoking status

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Meaning in life: Does it play a role in smoking

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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