Effect of smoking on automatic thoughts among university students and its relationship with depression and anxiety

In this study, negative automatic thoughts concept was addressed among smokers and non-smokers. Therefore, automatic thoughts and its relationship with depression and anxiety among university students were analyzed. Participants were a group of university students studying in Istanbul and consist of 100 people. Data were collected by using sociodemographic form, Fagerström Nicotine Dependence Test (Heatherton, Kozlowski, Frecker, & Fagerström, 1991), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1960), State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Luschene, 1970) and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Hollon & Kendall, 1980). Results indicated that people with high nicotine dependence have higher negative automatic thoughts, depression and trait anxiety than non-smokers. When the effect of automatic thoughts were controlled, effect of smoking on depression remained, but effect of smoking on trait and state anxiety were no longer displayed. When effect of smoking and automatic thoughts conditions were analyzed, it was found that nicotine use causes significant difference in depression levels in people with high and low automatic thoughts. However, there was not any significant effect of smoking on state and trait anxiety in people with high automatic thoughts. These results can be used for more efficient CBT of people who smoke and have high depression and anxiety at the same time. Key words: Smoking, automatic thoughts, depression, anxiety.