Is the FTND a measure of physical as well as psychological tobacco dependence?

The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) has been developed to assess tobacco dependence from a physical perspective and to match treatments to individuals on the basis of the extent of the physical dependence. This study assessed the extent to which the FTND also measures psychological tobacco dependence. In three independently recruited samples of smokers, FTND scores, scores on indices of psychological dependence and smoking cessation were assessed. The results show that the indices of psychological dependence in all three samples explained about 20% of the variance in FTND scores. Furthermore, the FTND and the indices of psychological dependence both predicted quitting activity prospectively with two quitting measures in all three samples. Lastly, when the FTND and the indices of psychological dependence were combined in one model, the psychological dependence measures predicted quitting activity more consistently than the FTND, although the overlap between the two measures of dependence was small.