View article

Relapse episodes were examined with a sample of 176 subjects from a smoking cessation program. Each subject successfully quit smoking and subsequently relapsed during a 1-year follow-up period. Descriptive analyses replicated previous retrospective descriptions of relapse situations. Situational descriptions were also cluster analyzed, and contrary to previous work, only a two-cluster solution was stable within the data set. The clusters described social and nonsocial situations. The hypothesis that situational characteristics of relapse are indicative of differences in prior learning was tested by relating relapse cluster to a number of prospective measures. The characteristics of relapse situations were not predictable from characteristics of a preintervention relapse, measures of prior smoking behavior, perceived stress, nicotine addiction, and situation specific self-efficacy. The situational characteristics of isolated …