A critical review of the Reasons for Smoking Scale.

The present article reviews studies bearing on the psychometric characteristics and clinical utility of the Reasons for Smoking Scale (RFS). It is concluded that the instrument possesses adequate psychometric properties such as a stable factor structure, internal consistency, and temporal stability. However, the supportive results of validity studies are weak and inconsistent. Moreover, the instrument appears to possess little clinical utility. Consequently, there exists little empirical evidence to justify its widespread use in clinical practice.