Testing the Cigarette Dependence Scale in 4 samples of daily smokers: Psychiatric clinics,smoking cessation clinics,a smoking cessation website and in the general population

Aim

To assess the properties of the Cigarette Dependence Scale (CDS-12) in various samples of daily smokers and to provide reference scores in a general population sample.

Methods

Surveys in 4 samples of daily cigarette smokers: psychiatric out-patients in Geneva, Switzerland (n = 226), clients of smoking cessation clinics in France (n = 370), visitors of a French-language smoking cessation website (n = 13,697) and a representative sample of the general population of Geneva (n = 292).

Results

In all 4 samples, Cronbach's alpha coefficients were > 0.87 and factor analyses indicated that CDS-12 was unidimensional. CDS-12 was slightly skewed towards higher values, and it was associated with expired carbon monoxide, but this association was not strong (9% of variance explained, p < 0.001). CDS-12 scores were highest in clients of smoking cessation clinics (mean = 47.7, SD = 10.2), followed by psychiatric patients (mean = 44.4, SD = 8.4), visitors of smoking cessation websites (mean = 43.3, SD = 11.6) and the general population sample (mean = 36.9, SD = 12.3). Except for tolerance, each element in the DSM-IV and ICD-10 definitions of dependence is reflected by at least one item in CDS-12, even though the match with these definitions is sometimes indirect.

Conclusions

This paper presents reference scores and validity and reliability tests for CDS-12 in a diversity of samples of daily smokers. This information should be useful to clinicians and researchers.