Smoking causes millions of deaths annually, but the negative impact it has on health doesn’t stop people from indulging in the substance, especially in social gatherings.
The latest study in the journal Plos One establishes the link between smoking preferences and personality traits. Those who like cigarettes display a set of different behaviors compared to smokers who prefer cigars, and people who don’t smoke at all. Smoking is an unhealthy habit that can cause serious damage to your health. But quitting isn’t impossible.
Study links smoking habits to personality traits
The study conducted by Dritjon Gruda from Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Portugal, and Jim McCleskey from Western Governors University, U.S. aimed to understand the smoking habit on people’s personalities.
The research examines five traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism – in over 9,918 male and female participants aged 50 and more from 11 European countries.
Different smoking preferences were taken into consideration to understand their impact on the behaviors of the people who indulged in the substance.
The study includes people who smoke cigarettes, and cigars and others who don’t smoke at all. As the physiological risks of tobacco are well-studied, the recent research aims to understand its role in shaping personalities based on the consumption patterns.
Smoking is linked to high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness – traits associated with impulsive, unpredictable behavior and unwillingness to do one’s duties. It’s a universal fact that people lean on cigarettes when stressed and struggle to regulate their emotions such as irritability, anxiety, etc.
Cigarette smokers exhibit higher extroversion
The participants were asked if they had ever smoked, along with the tobacco product of their choice before measuring the key personality traits.
The study found a “robust correlation” between “current smoking and lower trait Conscientiousness, particularly evident in cigarette smokers as opposed to cigar smokers.”
While cigarette smokers scored high on extroversion, they exhibit less conscientiousness which the researchers speculate reflects a lack of self-discipline and disregard for long-term health risks.
Meanwhile, cigar smokers exhibited lower neuroticism and higher openness compared to cigarette smokers and those who never smoked.
The study states: “Extraversion observed may be due to the social nature of smoking, which serves as a conduit for social interactions and stimulation, traits favored by extraverted individuals.”
Meanwhile, commenting on the traits exhibited by cigar smokers, the researchers said: “The association between higher Openness to Experience and cigar smoking may reflect the cultural and social dimensions of cigar use, often perceived as a symbol of sophistication and leisure.”
