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The prevalence of smoking in the general population remains high in spite of the extended acknowledgement of the well-documented health consequences of smoking and potential benefits of quitting. Only a minority of smokers who attempt to quit seeks professional treatment, yet most of the research on smoking cessation focuses on such form of quitting. Research on self-quitting is scarce, although most smokers who successfully quit, do so on their own. Recently, research has evidenced that psychological flexibility, a core concept in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is an important variable in predicting successful behavioral change in many clinically relevant areas. The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between psychological flexibility and successful self-quitting from smoking. 277 participants who had attempted to quit on their own (217 successfully abstinent and 60 still smoking) provided information on their smoking history, quit attempts, nicotine dependence, and demographics, and were assessed with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II. Abstinence status was measured through self-reports of continuous abstinence and confirmed by concentrations of expired carbon monoxide below 8 ppm. Results show a statistically significant difference (t= -8,775; p <.01) for the AAQ-II scores of successful (M= 18.39, SD= 7.76) and unsuccessful self-quitters (M= 27.17; SD= 6.88). Only 26% participants with high level of psychological inflexibility quitted successfully, compared to 94% participants with low levels of psychological inflexibility. These results show clear evidence that psychological flexibility is associated to successful self-quitting, and suggest that this variable could facilitate success in attempts to stop smoking without professional help. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data available on health habits and health beliefs in Spanish medical population is scarce. The objective of this study was to explore some health habits (i.e., tobacco and alcohol consume) as well as the knowledge and beliefs regarding those habits among physicians and medical students. The sample was 147 participants from various hospitals in Spain. A questionnaire specifically designed for this study was used to obtain data about the target variables. Results show that 47,6% of participants are smokers, and 71,7% inform to be alcohol consumers. A positive relation between age and frequency of consumption was found in both habits. Participants demonstrate to have an adequate level of knowledge and beliefs in relation to the risks for health that the use of tobacco and alcohol entails, contrasting clearly with their consumption patterns. The health habits of this sample do not differ from those founded in the general population, even though participants show a correct level of knowledge and beliefs on these habits, thus emphasizing the lack of correspondence between health knowledge, beliefs and health habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variables Related to Success in Smoking Self-quitting. Smoking Self-quitting is the most commonly used tool for smokers who wish to quit smoking. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between habits related to smoking and some personal regulation variables and succesful self-quitting from smoking. 137 participants who had attempted to quit smoking on their own (99 remained abstinent and 38 still smoking) provided information on their smoking history, quit attempts, nicotine dependence, self-control and psychological flexibility. Differences between succesful quiters and smokers who failed in cessation found that age at wich cessation begins (p= .01), and psychological flexibility (p= .001) were related with succesful quiting. In addittion, a logistic regresion model to estimate the influence of all variables on success in quitting showed that flexibility was related to successful self-quiting (p <.05). These results show evidence that psychological flexibility is associated to successful selfquitting, and suggest that this variable could facilitate success in attempts to stop smoking without professional help. Limitations and implications of this study for smoking treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the personal values reported by Nursing, Physiotherapy and Social Work students and analyzes to what extent they it the predictions made by the theory of intergenerational value change regarding the predominance of post-materialist values in younger generations. The participants stated their values in order of priority in an open-ended questionnaire. The sample was divided into three groups: A Nursing Students Group (NSG), made up of 150 participants; a Physiotherapy Students Group (PSG) represented by 150 participants, and a Social Work Students Group (SWSG) comprised of 150 participants. The results showed differences between the groups in the prioritized value categories and in each group's resultant value profiles. The Physiotherapy and Social Work students' values fitted the theory of value change predictions better, consequently giving post-materialist group profiles whilst the nursing students did not show results in line with the predictions, displaying an obviously materialist profile. Here, we discuss the results and their importance for the assessment of social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has as main goal the exploration of risk behaviors in a sample of 85 university undergraduate students from the Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina. All participants responded to a anonymous questionnaire with items related to health habits in food, sleep, exercise, substance use, and beliefs about health status. The results indicated that incoming students differ in their risk profiles from the students of last course. In addition, 42% of the students of last course reports not to have received information about health in university. A high percentage of students report positive beliefs on his/her health status regardless to the report of several risk behaviors. We discuss if the university education context need to pay more attention to health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, framed into the analysis of (in) sensibility to contingencies and its implications in the analysis of verbal regulation, pretends to assess the effectiveness of several methods in order to produce breaking or change of the sensibility patterns, as well as to find attainable differential effects of automatic contingencies in two experimental tasks, using an eight university student's sample. The results show that the use of contextual cues, by means of the amplification or changes in the given rules, is the best procedure to break certain levels of insensibility. The data also show the absence of differential effects of each task contingencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To investigate differences and similarities in college students’ drinking motives in Spain and in Hungary. Methods: A total of 550 Spanish (mean age 22.7, SD = 3.2) and 997 Hungarian (mean age 22.4, SD = 2.7) college students completed the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ-R SF) and answered other alcohol-related questions. Data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis, t-test and structural equation modeling. Results: The DMQ-R SF demonstrated good psychometric properties in both countries. The rank order of the motives (social > enhancement > coping > conformity) was identical in the two countries. However, Hungarian students scored higher on enhancement, social and coping motives than Spanish students. In both the Hungarian and the Spanish population, enhancement motives were associated with drinking frequency and drunkenness, while coping motives were associated with alcohol-related problems. Among Spanish students, a significant relationship was found between alcohol-related problems and enhancement motives as well. Conclusion: Despite the substantial differences in the drinking culture of both countries, drinking motives showed overwhelming similarities (e.g. rank order of motives and the particular relationships between motives and alcohol outcomes). Only few differences (e.g. Hungarian college students indicated a higher level of motives) were found in cross-national comparison. Our results imply that programs targeting risky drinking motives are likely to be successfully adapted to different drinking cultures in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]