Abstract
Despite smoking fewer cigarettes per day, African American smokers have greater difficulty quitting when compared to other ethnic groups. Identifying factors associated with smoking among these high-risk smokers may assist in developing effective smoking cessation interventions. This study examined the psychometric properties of the WISDM-30 (Smith et al., 2007) among a sample of 515 African American light smokers. Unlike the WISDM-30 which has a 10 factor solution, results from both an EFA and CFA analysis suggest a 27-item version of the WISDM with 8 subscales was the best solution to evaluate nicotine dependence in this sample. The 8-factor model replicated seven of the factors originally reported by Smith and colleagues (2007) for the WISDM-30 (e.g., Affiliative Attachment, Automaticity, Cognitive Enhancement, Negative Reinforcement, Social Support, Taste/Associative Processes, and Weight Loss). The final factor consisted of the original three craving items plus two items from the Tolerance/Loss of Control subscale as well as one item from the Cue Reactivity subscale. In addition, all 8 subscales were found to load on a single higher order factor, indicating each of these areas measures a unified construct. Internal reliability was improved by combining these items, further providing support to the results obtained in the EFA and CFA analyses showing a combined subscale. The Automaticity and Craving subscales of the WISDM-27 were associated with smoking level, while subscale scores did not differ by gender. Results from this study provide an initial validation of the WISDM-30 among African American light-smokers and highlight specific factors related to nicotine dependence in this population.