The Network Structure of Tobacco Withdrawal in a Community Sample of Smokers Treated with Nicotine Patch and Behavioral Counseling

Introduction. Network theories of psychopathology highlight that, rather than being indicators of a latent disorder, symptoms of disorders can causally interact with one another in a network. The present study examined tobacco withdrawal from a network perspective. Methods. Participants (n = 525, 50.67% female) completed the Minnesota Tobacco Withdrawal Scale (MTWS) four times (2 weeks prior to a target quit day, on the target quit day, and 4 and 8 weeks after the target quit day) over the course of 8 weeks of treatment with nicotine patch and behavioral counseling within a randomized clinical trial testing long-term nicotine patch therapy in treatment-seeking smokers. The conditional dependence among 7 withdrawal symptoms was estimated at each of the four measurement occasions. Influential symptoms of withdrawal were identified using centrality indices. Changes in network structure were examined using the network comparison test. Results. Findings indicated many significant associations among the individual symptoms of withdrawal. The strongest associations that emerged were between sleep problems and restlessness, and associations among affective symptoms. Restlessness and affective symptoms emerged as the most central symptoms in the withdrawal networks. Minimal differences in the structure of the withdrawal networks emerged across time. Conclusions. The co-occurrence of withdrawal symptoms may result from interactions among symptoms of withdrawal rather than simply reflecting passive indicators of a latent disorder. Findings encourage greater consideration of individual withdrawal symptoms and their potential interactions and may be used to generate hypotheses that may be tested in future intensive longitudinal studies.