Specificity of nicotine dependence in adult smokers with PTSD symptoms: Does depression proneness tell the whole story?

Although evidence indicates that PTSD and nicotine use co-occur, it does not reveal whether this relationship is unique or simply a reflection of their joint association with depression proneness. This study investigated whether 157 current smokers with more PTSD symptomatology smoked more cigarettes and reported more nicotine dependence than smokers with fewer PTSD symptoms. Contrary to expectations, smokers with more PTSD symptomatology did not report smoking more cigarettes per day. However, as hypothesized, smokers with more PTSD symptoms reported more nicotine dependence than smokers with fewer PTSD symptoms. Smokers with more arousal or avoidance symptoms also reported more nicotine dependence, but smokers with more intrusion symptoms did not report more nicotine dependence. Because PTSD and depression often co-occur after extreme stressors, depression proneness was then controlled to assess the specificity of the PTSD/nicotine dependence relationship. A vulnerability to depression did not account for the variance in nicotine dependence.