Pros and cons of quitting, self-efficacy, and the stages of change in smoking cessation.

In The Netherlands, 34% of the population smoke, and 70% of these smokers are not planning to quit. The lower percentages in the U.S. population seem to reflect a difference in smoking culture. This study analyzes the pros and cons of quitting and self-efficacy expectation in the 5 stages of change in the Dutch population. The results are compared with the pattern of the pros and cons of smoking and self-efficacy expectations found in U.S. samples. The data show the hypothesized pattern: In the first 2 stages, the expected positive outcomes of quitting discriminated better between the stages than self-efficacy, whereas for later stages, self-efficacy was the better discriminator. This study shows that the stage typology is applicable to the Dutch population and that the pattern of the pros, cons, and self-efficacy is very similar to the pattern found in the U.S. populations.