Smoking behavior and personality characteristics in Polish adolescents.

We report here clear-cut evidence that personality characteristics, at least those measured by the Maudsley Personality Inventory and a semantic differential rating of smokers and nonsmokers, are related to smoking behaviors in 1,000 Polish adolescents. The pattern of relationships replicates well that reported by others based on data collection from other cultures. The use of such findings in intervention and prevention attempts with cigarette smoking or other self-abusive behaviors remains to be evaluated in the future.