Stability of a factor-analytic description of smoking behavior.

Three types of human smoking behavior, identified by factor analysis of questionnaire responses, were found to exhibit a stable structure in a series of different populations and environments. Type I smoking behavior is closely related to a personally perceived need for tobacco products. Types II and III are related to psychosocial-sensorimotor rewards and the intensification of pleasure, respectively. The typology is easily detectable and remarkably constant in the following populations: staff, employees, and patients of a teaching hospital in London, England; urbanites and suburbanites of mixed ages in a part of metropolitan Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.; college students in Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A., elderly urbanites and suburbanites in the metropolitan areas of (a) Stockholm, Sweden and (b) Göteborg, Sweden; and the adult children of the Swedish groups (a) and (b).