HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY, 1992,11(5), 331-334 Copyright © 1992, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Smoking Cessation Among Self-Quitters John R. Hughes Departments ofPsychiatry, Psychology, and Family Practice University of Vermont Suzy B. Gulliver University of Vermont James W. Fenwick Department ofMedical Biostatistics University of Vermont William A. Valliere, Kevin Cruser, Sara Pepper, and Pam Shea Department ofPsychiatry University of Vermont Laura J. Solomon University of Vermont Brian S. Flynn Office on Health Promotion Research University of Vermont We examined cessation among 630 smokers who quit abruptly on their own. Continuous, complete abstinence rates were 33% at 2 days, 24% at 7 days, 22% at 14 days, 19% at 1 month, 11% at 3 months, 8% at 6 months postcessation, and 3% at 6 months with biochemical verification. Slipping (smoking an average of less than 1 cigarette/day) was common (9% to 15% of subjects) and was a strong predictor of relapse; however, 23% of long-term abstainers slipped at some point. These results challenge beliefs that most smokers can initially stop smoking and that most relapse occurs later on postcessation. Key words: nicotine, relapse, self-quitters, smoking Much of the research in smoking has focused on relapse following initial cessation (Hunt, Barnett, & Branch, 1971; Marlatt & Gordon, 1985). This emphasis has arisen, in part, because much of the existing literature on smoking cessation has been acquired from the fewer than 5% of smokers who received formal behavioral or drug treatments. Initial cessation rates in these studies are often quite high (e.g., 50% to 75%) because subjects are typically highly motivated and received an intensive therapy. Several prospective studies of the 95% of smokers who quit on their own have reported much lower long-term abstinence rates than in clinic attendees (Cohen et al., 1989; Fiore et al., 1990; Schacter, 1982). Initial cessation rates in these studies have not been well described, as the earliest follow-up in most was 1 month postcessa- tion. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of abstinence rates in self-quitters very early on (i.e., 2, 7, 14 and 30 days postcessation). Requests for reprints should be sent to John R. Hughes, Human Behavioral Pharmacology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, Ira Allen School, University of Vermont, 38 Fletcher Place, Burlington, VT 05401. METHOD This article reports the abstinence and relapse outcomes for a study of self-quitters. Other papers will report the withdrawal (Hughes, in press) and prediction-of-relapse analyses. Subjects Smokers about to quit "on their own" were recruited through news- paper and radio ads. Subjects were compensated at a rate of $10 for 15 min of interview time. We were able to reach 1,396 (60%) of the 2,349 individuals we called. The major focus of the study was on withdrawal symptoms in self-quitters who stopped abruptly (Hughes, in press); thus, several exclusion criteria were used to select a sample who would be likely to stop abruptly on their own. These criteria excluded 671 smokers (48% of 1,396). The reasons for exclusion were reduced number of cigarettes in past 2 weeks (28% of the 671 excluded subjects), rated motivation to quit less than 5 on a 10-point scale (19%), not presently smoking daily (19%), planned an extended vacation in next few months (13%), recently switched to low-nicotine cigarette in the past 2 weeks (8%), had a quit date more than 100 days from interview This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.