Matched and mismatched interventions with young adult smokers: testing a stage theory.

This experiment tested the transtheoretical model (J.O. Prochaska & C.C. DiClemente, 1983) of smoking cessation by matching or mismatching interventions to smokers in a particular stage. The interventions were tested against a no-intervention condition with 92 college-aged daily smokers in the precontemplation stage of change. The stage-matched intervention asked smokers to think more about quitting smoking; the stage-mismatched intervention provided action-oriented activities typically used for those ready to quit smoking. The results failed to support the value of matching interventions to a smoker's stage of change. Instead, more smokers who received the action intervention tried to quit smoking. Matching interventions to an individual's current stage may be less important than the transtheoretical model suggests.