1. Multimodal assessment of the effect of chewing gum on nicotine withdrawal
- Author
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Cohen, Lee
- Abstract
The relationship between cigarette smoking and gum chewing is important to psychological research. Wrigley's has long believed that when smokers are in situations where smoking is prohibited, chewing gum will lessen their craving to smoke. This belief, however, was not backed up by scientific evidence until recently. In a previous study conducted in our laboratory (Cohen, Collins, & Britt, 1997), we found that based solely on self-report data, dependent cigarette smokers who were not permitted to smoke during a 4-hour time period, but were asked to chew gum, experienced significantly less total withdrawal symptoms when compared to a group of smokers who were not permitted chew gum during this time. In addition to reporting less overall withdrawal, those smokers that were permitted to chew gum reported less "craving" for a cigarette than their counterparts who did not have gum. These findings empirically validate Wrigley Chewing Gum commercials that assert "When you cannot smoke, chew gum." The present study was designed to examine the usefulness of the substitution of gum for cigarettes when a smoker is unable to smoke using both self-report and physiological (i.e., salivary cortisol) measures.
- Published
- 1999