ABSTRACT Despite the negative health consequences associated with smoking, most smokers find it difficult to quit. This is especially true for smokers with elevated social anxiety. One factor that may play a role in maintaining smoking with elevated anxiety is false safety behavior (FSB), behaviors geared toward decreasing anxiety short-term but that maintain or increase anxiety long-term. The present study tested whether FSB explained the relation of social anxiety severity with smoking among 71 current smokers. Avoidance-related FSB was the only type of FSB related to cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) and it was robustly related to more CPD. Further, social anxiety was related to CPD indirectly via FSB-Avoidance. Findings suggest that more frequent use of avoidance behaviors to manage anxiety may maintain smoking and may partially explain the high rates of smoking among those with elevated social anxiety. Thus, FSB may be a promising target in smoking cessation interventions, especially among those with elevated social anxiety.

中文翻译：

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吸烟和社交焦虑：虚假安全行为的作用

摘要 尽管吸烟对健康有负面影响，但大多数吸烟者发现很难戒烟。对于社交焦虑加剧的吸烟者来说尤其如此。假安全行为 (FSB) 是一种可能在维持吸烟并伴有焦虑升高的情况中起作用的因素，这种行为旨在短期减少焦虑，但长期维持或增加焦虑。本研究测试了 FSB 是否解释了 71 名当前吸烟者的社交焦虑严重程度与吸烟的关系。与回避相关的 FSB 是唯一与每天吸烟量 (CPD) 相关的 FSB 类型，它与更多的 CPD 密切相关。此外，社交焦虑通过 FSB-Avoidance 与 CPD 间接相关。研究结果表明，更频繁地使用回避行为来控制焦虑可能会维持吸烟，并可能部分解释社交焦虑加剧的人吸烟率高的原因。因此，FSB 可能是戒烟干预的一个有希望的目标，尤其是在那些社交焦虑加剧的人群中。