Associations between stress, personality and smoking

This article reports results from a questionnaire survey of smoking and health which has been carried out among a representative sample of Norwegians (N = 5014). † About one-third of the respondents smoked (N = 1639). Path analysis showed that the cancer-prone personality (Eysenck, 1988) correlated with job stress, strain as well as smoking. There was also a tendency that smoking and cancer were associated. The respondentsʹ age and educational level were correlated with their cancer-prone personality score. Personality predicts strain and smoking among elderly people whose education is restricted to elementary/junior high school. The article discusses the possibility that the effect on smoking habits and cancer of the cancer-prone personality may depend partly on the respondentsʹ age and education. The article presents further analyses of the data reported in Smedslund (1995).