Study links aggression to cigarette smoking

Marisa O’Neil

It turns out there’s a reason the tough-guy image includes a

cigarette dangling from the corner of the mouth.

A new study by UC Irvine’s College of Medicine shows that people

with a more aggressive personality may find it more difficult to quit

smoking. The study measured the affects of nicotine on the brains of

people with aggressive and nonaggressive personalities, said Steven

Potkin, professor of psychiatry and human behavior.

Previous studies have shown that aggressive personality types have

a harder time quitting smoking, Potkin said.

This study pinpointed the brain’s response to low doses of

nicotine, which are delivered to participants through a patch on the

skin.

Participants -- both smokers and nonsmokers -- took a personality

test to determine if they had a more aggressive or less aggressive

type of personality. People with a more aggressive personality, he

said, might grow impatient with people asking their advice or tend to

interrupt during conversations.

Both smokers and nonsmokers with aggressive personalities showed a

significant increase in brain activity when they used the nicotine.

It affected the parts of the brain that control motivation, emotion,

attention and social response, Potkin said.

The nicotine did not affect people with less aggressive

personalities. Those people, he said, are less likely to get addicted

to cigarettes.

“That’s why some people who have a strong brain response find it

hard to stop smoking, but low aggression smokers can pretty much stop

easily,” Potkin said. “They probably smoke for environmental social

reasons.”

In fact, his research team had a hard time finding smokers with

less aggressive personalities. They found no shortage of smokers with

aggressive personalities.

“That makes sense because you don’t get anything out of it, you’re

less likely to do something,” he said.

It might also explain why some people get a little cranky when

they try to quit, he said.

That sounds about right to 25-year-old Costa Mesa resident

Adrienne Whipple. She said she doesn’t have an aggressive

personality, but her boyfriend may qualify.

“I quit once, years ago, and it wasn’t that hard,” she said. “But

my boyfriend wouldn’t quit. He’d freak if he did.”

Costa Mesa resident Irene Shannon, 80, also thought the brain

response idea made sense.

“If I’m real uptight, I want a cigarette,” she said. “I think it’s

half because I’m plain uptight and want something to diminish the

moment and half out of habit.”

Potkin and his team plan to do another study, this time using

actual cigarettes, which contain additives that may further affect

the brain. That could lead to finding ways to help people quit

smoking, or avoid it in the first place.

Because adolescents are more susceptible to the affects of

nicotine, Potkin said it’s important to keep them away from

cigarettes, particularly if they have an aggressive personality.