Review of predictors of smoking characteristics among DSM-IV criteria points to which items may be especially useful at signaling higher levels of dependence if assessed dimensionally. While all items predicted baseline smoking variables to a degree, giving up activities and spending a great deal of time appear to carry relatively unique significance. Notably, these items were the two least frequently endorsed of all DSM-IV criteria. One potential explanation for this finding is that the more frequently endorsed items reflect processes that occur relatively early in the dependence process, whereas those items that are endorsed relatively infrequently reflect phenomena that occur in the later, more severe, stages of addiction. Consistent with this interpretation, past research using item response modeling found that giving up activities was endorsed least frequently, yet was associated with the highest levels of involvement with cigarettes among a large population of smokers [36]. This suggests that the upcoming DSM-V should retain those criteria that appear to be more characteristic of other forms of drug dependence. Note, however, that the current results do not address the question of whether
