Drug and Alcohol Dependence 119 (2011) e46–e50 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Drug and Alcohol Dependence j ourna l ho me pag e: www.elsevier.com/locate/drugalcdep Depressive mood and tobacco use: Moderating effects of gender and emotional attention José M. Perea-Baena a,∗ , Pablo Fernández-Berrocal a , Salvador O˜ na-Compan b a Faculty of Psychology. University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain b Programa de deshabituación de tabaco, Asociación Espa˜ nola Contra el Cáncer, and Preventive Medicine Service, Hospital Regional Carlos Haya. Málaga, Spain a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 30 January 2011 Received in revised form 23 May 2011 Accepted 24 May 2011 Available online 17 June 2011 Keywords: Smoking Tobacco Depression Negative affect Emotional attention a b s t r a c t Introduction: Depressive symptomatology is a predictive variable of tobacco use. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence that this symptomatology has on tobacco use when moder- ated by emotional attention. Methods: A total of 289 participants (127 males, 162 females) completed a survey to measure per- ceived emotional intelligence, depressive symptomatology, tobacco use and sociodemographic variables. Results were analyzed using a multiple regression model that included self-perceived emotional attention as a moderating variable. Results: In women, an interaction was found between depressive symptomatology and gender for predict- ing the number of cigarettes smoked (t = 2.45; p = .01), but not in men (t = -.74; p = .45). This interaction was moderated by emotional attention (t = 2.83; p = .005), such that women with medium and high levels of attention consumed a larger number of cigarettes. Conclusions: In women, the effect of depressive symptomatology on tobacco use was moderated by the amount of attention that women paid to those symptoms. Such a moderating effect of attention was not observed in men. We recommend that smoking cessation programs incorporate interventions designed specifically for women, in particular to help them manage depressive symptomatology. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Tobacco use continues to be one of the principal causes of avoid- able death. The association between smoking and appearance of disease has been demonstrated in numerous studies (Corrêa et al., 2009; Foulds et al., 2010; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). Smoking is responsible for approximately 30% of cancer deaths in developed countries (Vineis et al., 2004). In these countries, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a signif- icant cause of morbidity and mortality (Mannino and Buist, 2007), and smoking is the principal cause of this disease (Buist et al., 2008). Cessation of tobacco use is the main treatment for COPD; it reduces the risk not only of developing COPD, but also of suffering diverse types of cancer and coronary disease (Taylor et al., 2002). The like- lihood of developing disease increases with the level of tobacco use (Burrows et al., 1977; Doll and Crofton, 1996), although a thresh- old for the number of packet-years associated with the appearance of disease has not been established. The packet-year, obtained by multiplying the number of packs per day by the number of years, ∗ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Campus Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain. Tel.: +34 656818796. E-mail address: jmperea.baena@gmail.com (J.M. Perea-Baena). has become a standard unit for describing cigarette consumption (Hill, 1992). Negative affect is an important psychological factor in the main- tenance of tobacco use (Fucito et al., 2010) and in the occurrence of relapses after cessation (Schleicher et al., 2009; Vogel et al., 2003; Wiesbeck et al., 2008). Numerous studies have clearly established a relationship between depressive symptomatology and smoking. Escobedo et al. (1998) have shown that adolescents with depres- sive symptoms are more likely to start smoking than those without such symptoms. Other studies have reported a higher prevalence of depressive symptomatology among smokers (Farrell et al., 2001; Korhonen et al., 2007), greater difficulty in quitting smoking among those with depressive symptomatology (Prochaska et al., 2004), and susceptibility to depression as a predictive variable of cigarette consumption (McChargue and Cook, 2007; Morrell et al., 2010). Smokers often experience increased depressive symptoms immediately after cessation. Piccioto et al. (2008) examined the evidence around the mechanism by which nicotine modu- lates affectivity. Nicotine both activates and desensitizes nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and which of these actions leads to the appearance of depressive symptoms is unknown. Regardless, it has been suggested that dysregulation of the cholinergic system may contribute to the appearance of such symptoms after cessa- tion (Mineur and Piccioto, 2010). Some investigators have linked 0376-8716/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.05.029