A Perceptive Study on the Personality, Self-Esteem and Impulsiveness of Consumers and Non-Consumers of Tobacco Products and Exploring the Impact of Global Campaign on Consumers of Tobacco Products

Earlier tobacco was thought to have many beneficial effects and was also thought to cure cancer. However, the harmful effects of tobacco consumption were discovered soon and also that it is quite hard to quit. The quantitative part of the study attempts to inquire into the difference between consumers and non-consumers of tobacco products in terms of personality, self-esteem and impulsiveness. The research endeavor was conducted on Kolkata-based 100 Bengali Hindus between 18-25 years, with an underlying emphasis on culture-specificity. The group of consumers and non-consumers both consisted of 25 males and 25 females. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11; Patton et al.1995) were administered. Statistically Mean, Standard deviation and 2- way ANOVA was used. Results revealed significant difference in mean between consumers and non-consumers of tobacco products with respect to psychoticism, neuroticism, extraversion, self-esteem, attentional, motor and non-planning impulsiveness. Significant difference in mean between the interaction of the groups and sex were also found with respect to several variables. A semi-structured interview was also conducted to explore the impact of anti-tobacco campaign on 8 consumers of tobacco products. Qualitative analysis indicated ineffectiveness of anti-tobacco campaigns in most of the cases though there are some situations where these campaigns might be effective. The results and interpretation, quantitative and qualitative findings might be considered for cross-cultural validations and while formulating anti-tobacco campaigns across cultures.

Keywords: Consumers and non-consumers of tobacco, culture-specificness, sex, personality, self- esteem, attentional, motor and non-planning impulsiveness, psychoticism, neuroticism, extraversion.