摘要：We investigated the longitudinal influence of spousal and individual heavy drinking and heavy smoking on smoking cessation among married couples. Couples' (N = 634) past-year smoking, alcohol problems, and heavy drinking were assessed. We used an event history analysis and found that spousal and one's own heavy smoking and one's own heavy drinking decreased the likelihood of smoking cessation. Heavy drinking and spousal behavior should be considered when developing public health interventions and policies for smoking cessation. Spouses play a significant role in shaping each other's health behaviors, 1 including tobacco use and alcohol consumption. 2 , 3 Previous published findings from a longitudinal community sample of married couples indicated that nonsmoking wives who had previously been smokers were more likely to resume smoking if their husbands smoked. 3 Smokers are more likely to achieve cessation if their partners are nonsmokers. 4 However, these studies often fail to examine simultaneously other factors related to changes in smoking, and many spousal studies use information from only 1 member of the couple. Researchers also have found a longitudinal influence of partners on each other's drinking. 5 , 6 In a prospective study of partner influence and alcohol use, husbands’ premarital drinking predicted wives’ drinking during the first year of marriage, and wives’ drinking in the first year of marriage predicted husbands’ drinking in the second year of marriage. 7 Taken together, significant evidence suggests that couples’ health behaviors affect each partner in complex ways. To date, researchers have not integrated individual and partner risk factors as they relate to smoking cessation. At the individual level, tobacco use and alcohol consumption are highly correlated, and alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for smoking cessation failure, especially among heavy drinkers. 8 Researchers have proposed a cue reactivity model of polysubstance use, 9 , 10 in which individual smoking cues elicit urges to drink and alcohol cues elicit urges to smoke. However, this model has not been extended to consider an intimate partner specifically. Given the significant influence intimate partners have on each other's behaviors, it is important to determine whether the drinking patterns of 1 spouse serve as cues to influence the tobacco use by the other, thereby hindering cessation. Our study uniquely addressed how married partners influence each other's behaviors. Unlike other studies of couples that rely on partner reports, we independently assessed both husbands’ and wives’ behaviors over time. Participants enrolled at the beginning of their marriage, allowing assessment of life transitions. Our purpose was to investigate the longitudinal influence of spousal and individual heavy drinking, alcohol problems, and heavy smoking on smoking cessation within the first 7 years of marriage.
