Identifying negative urgency as a mechanism linking AS and negative reinforcement-related smoking expectancies innovates theory on the motivational processes underlying smoking behavior among individuals with psychological vulnerabilities. Furthermore, these results provide clues to specific smoking cessation treatment options that may be particularly effective in targeting emotional factors involved in smoking maintenance. Interoceptive exposure (Zvolensky et al., 2008), which can be combined with other smoking cessation strategies (e.g., psychoeducation and cognitive restructuring), may be useful in reducing reactivity to anxiety-related sensations that motivate negative-reinforcement smoking in high-AS smokers. Distress tolerance skills training may assist in teaching smokers high in negative urgency to respond more adaptively to negative affective states by promoting engagement in healthy alternative behaviors, rather than acting on impulses to smoke (Cyders and Smith, 2008). Lastly, mindfulness training may be useful in treating smokers who are high in AS or negative urgency because it encourages individuals to focus on and accept aversive states rather than avoid them (Brewer et al., 2013; Zvolensky et al., 2008).
