Associations between stress, personality and smoking

This article reports results from a questionnaire survey of smoking a nd health which has been carried out among a representative sample of Norwegia = 5014). About one-third of the respondents smoked (N = 163 9). Path analysis showed that the cancer-prone personality (Eysenck, 1988) correlated with job stress, strain as well as smoking. There wa s also a tendency that smoking and cancer were associated. The respon dents' age and educational level were correlated with their cancer-pr one personality score. Personality predicts strain and smoking among elderly people whose education is restricted to elementary/junior hig h school. The article discusses the possibility that the effect on sm oking habits and cancer of the cancer-prone personality may depend pa rtly on the respondents' age and education. The article presents furt her analyses of the data reported in Smedslund (1995).