Another important factor presumed to influence motivation to smoke is negative mood. Smokers’ self-reports of negative mood, as an antecedent for smoking, are so robustly reported that many models of nicotine dependence have incorporated a critical role for negative mood in maintaining smoking behavior (e.g., Baker et al., 2004). For example, the negative experience of nicotine withdrawal symptoms is posited as a strong motivator to smoke. This proposition is supported by studies that show withdrawal symptoms are readily reduced by smoking (Parrott & Garnham, 1998). However, the research on the relationship between negative mood unrelated to withdrawal (e.g., stress) and smoking is ambiguous at best. Laboratory studies have frequently failed to find a strong effect of negative mood on smoking behavior. For example, a recent study by Conklin and Perkins (2005) sought to shed more light on the potential reinforcing effects of smoking while in a negative mood. They induced negative mood in smokers, expecting an increase in craving and smoking behavior. Although their results showed that smoking did not reduce negative mood, greater levels of negative mood shortened latency to smoke and increased smoking behavior.
