Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 29, Issue 6, August 2004, Pages 1207-1212
Addictive Behaviors

Short communication
A short form of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence and the Heaviness of Smoking Index in two adult population samples

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.03.019Get rights and content

Abstract

Few data exist about the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) from population samples. The goal was to prove to what degree (1) a reduced item solution of the FTND and (2) the HSI represent the FTND. Two randomized adult population samples were used from northern Germany. Sample 1 included 1462 and sample 2 included 1042 current daily cigarette smokers aged 20–64 years with FTND data. The results show that four items of the FTND as well as the HSI represent the FTND. It is concluded that both are valid measures of the urge to smoke and the tobacco-smoke-seeking behavior.

Introduction

Very little is revealed about the psychometric properties of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) from representative population samples Haddock et al., 1999, Lacchetti et al., 2001. Such research could determine the magnitude of floor effects (Etter, Duc, & Perneger, 1999). Little is known about the extent to which the HSI is equivalent to the information provided by the FTND from nontreatment-seeking samples or representative population samples (cf. Kozlowski, Porter, Orleans, Pope, & Heatherton, 1994). Nothing is known from studies which compare representative population samples to test the external validity of the results. The goal of the present paper was to prove to what degree (1) a reduced item solution of the FTND and (2) the HSI represent the FTND in two population samples and to show the distribution of the levels of dependence according to the HSI.

Section snippets

Methods

For sample 1, eligible participants were all noninstitutionalized individuals aged 18–64 living in the northern German 217,000-inhabitant city of Lübeck and 46 surrounding communities (Transitions in Alcohol Consumption and Smoking; Meyer, Rumpf, Hapke, Dilling, & John, 2000). A random sample from the community residents' registration files had been drawn. Every resident has to be included in these data files by law. The participation rate was 70.2%. There were 3950 participants aged 20–64

Results

PCA revealed two factors in sample 1 with an eigenvalue ≥1 (Table 1), one factor included four (time to first cigarette after waking up, difficulty not to smoke where prohibited, number of cigarettes per day, smoking when ill and in bed), while one factor included only two items (cigarette most hated to give up: first in the morning-other, smoking more in the morning than the rest of the day). The variance explained by the two factors was 50.9% in sample 1. We tested two models in a

Discussion

The analyses reveal a short form of the FTND: (1) The first factor proposed on grounds of the PCA represents the urge to smoke and the tobacco-smoke-seeking behavior. Factor 2 should be omitted because it comprises too few items. Furthermore, it includes morning smoking which is covered by Factor 1 as well. (2) The results exactly replicate findings from a sample of adults at the age of 17–35 years (Haddock et al., 1999). (3) The two-factor model is confirmed by factor analysis in the second

Acknowledgements

Data described in this paper have been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology (grants no. 01 EB 9406, ZZ9603), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs as well as the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

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