Psychological profile and nicotine dependence in smoking undergraduate students of UFMT*

Introduction: Data on the relationship between personality profile and nicotine dependence may help health professionals to design and improve programs for the treatment and prevention of this dependence. Objective: To investigate the relationship between personality profile and nicotine dependence in a group of smoking undergraduate students. Methods: A total of 1,245 undergraduate students were randomly selected among 10,500 students enrolled at the Cuiabá campus of UFMT in 2001. A standard questionnaire was applied for social characterization and for the determination of the tobacco consumption pattern, comprising 80 students considered as smokers. These students were then submitted to the Fagerström Test (1978) for nicotine dependence and to the reduced version of the Comrey Personality Scale (CPS), that determines personality dimensions. Results: Analysis of the mean scores (Student’s t test) revealed an inversely proportional borderline association between dependence and the Order x Lack of Compulsion scale (p = 0.06), and a negative or inversely proportional association between the CPS Extroversion x Introversion (p = 0.002) and Control of Validity scales (p = 0.04). Linear regression analysis of the Fagerström Test points confirmed the inversely proportional borderline association between dependence and the Order x Lack of Compulsion (p = 0.06) and CPS Extroversion x Introversion scales (p = 0.02). However, when the interference of daily cigarette consumption was controlled, only the Extroversion x Introversion scale remained associated with dependence (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Students who are nicotine-dependent smokers are less extroverted than non-dependent smokers. (J Pneumol 2003;29(1):21-7)