Motivation and reasons to quit: Predictive validity among adolescent smokers

Objectives: To examine reasons to quit among adolescents in a smoking cessation program, and whether reasons were associated with subsequent cessation. Methods: Participants were 351 adolescents. At baseline, adolescents reported motivation, reasons to quit, and stage of change for cessation. Quit status was assessed at end of treatment. Results: Girls were more likely to endorse image and appearance reasons to quit. Cessation was more likely among adolescents with higher motivation and those wanting to quit because of friends. Conclusions: Different reasons to quit were associated with motivation and cessation. Baseline motivation strongly predicted cessation, suggesting the relative value of assessing global motivation.