Brief assessment of readiness to change tobacco use in treated youth

Tammy Chung, Stephen A. Maisto, Anthony Mihalo, Christopher S. Martin, Jack R. Cornelius, Duncan B. Clark

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined the concurrent and predictive validity of four brief measures of readiness to change tobacco use for use with adolescents in clinical practice (Readiness Ruler, Thoughts About Abstinence, motivation to abstain, and confidence to abstain) and a single-item measure of difficulty to abstain. Participants were 154 adolescent smokers recruited from outpatient addictions treatment, who completed assessments shortly after admission and at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Concurrent validity analyses indicated that the four readiness measures were moderately correlated at each time point. Predictive validity analyses indicated that the Ruler and the motivation to abstain ratings predicted number of cigarettes smoked at 6 and 12 months. Perceived difficulty to abstain predicted cigarette use over and above the readiness to change measures. Results support the clinical utility of the Ruler and motivation to abstain as brief measures of readiness to change, and perceived difficulty to abstain as a tool to aid adolescent tobacco cessation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)137-147
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Volume41
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2011

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Readiness to change
  • Substance abuse treatment
  • Tobacco

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Phychiatric Mental Health
  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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