Relationships between stages of change in cigarette smokers and healthy lifestyle behaviors in a population of young military personnel during forced smoking abstinence

This study evaluated the relationships between stages of change and related health behaviors in a population of smokers forced to quit smoking. Participants were 10,136 Air Force recruits who were in basic military training (BMT) and who were not allowed to smoke because of a ban on smoking during BMT. Participants were surveyed about their smoking history, their motivation and readiness to remain smoke free after BMT, and their behavior on 5 target health areas. Results indicated that smoking history best predicted stage of change. Though there were few gender differences, several ethnic differences emerged. These results suggest that, although stages of change involve both a cognitive and behavioral component, removing the behavioral component (smoking) through a smoking ban does not reduce the construct validity of the transtheoretical model.