This study utilizes a Rasch modeled nicotine withdrawal sensitivity score constructed from eight quit attempt symptoms obtained from participants in a longitudinal family sample called the SMOking in FAMilies study (SMOFAM sample) (14). SMOFAM is a community based sample of pedigrees, ascertained via an adolescent proband, and longitudinally followed via annual assessments over a period of nearly two decades to study the social and behavioral risk factors for tobacco use (15). Multiplex ever smoking (≥ 100 cigarettes smoked) pedigrees, drawn from those pedigrees where the proband had completed at least seven of the first ten assessments on tobacco use and elected to provide a blood sample for DNA analysis, were recruited for an integrated study of the genetics of smoking behavior and nicotine metabolism. These pedigrees were administered a family history of tobacco use questionnaire that included cigarette smoking quit history and withdrawal symptoms (16). Specifically respondents were asked: ‘During the first few days after you quit smoking cigarettes (the first or the most recent time) for at least 3 months, did you feel or experience any of the following?’.
