Causes of smoking relapse in the 12 months after smoking cessation treatment: Affective and cigarette dependence–related factors

•Experiencing positive or negative affect was the most frequent causes of relapse.•Cigarette dependence-related causes accounted for 20% of relapses.•Being men, higher-educated, and not on psychopharm predicted positive-affect relapse situations.•First smoking at an older age predicted negative-affect relapse situations.•Less-motivated and younger smokers relapsed in cigarette-dependence–related situations. Despite advances in smoking cessation treatments, smoking relapse remains common. Experiencing positive or negative affect and cigarette dependence are the most common causes of relapse; however, little is known about the characteristics that increase the risk of relapse from these causes among current treatment-seeking smokers. Thus, this study aimed to identify the most frequent causes of relapse and the individual characteristics that increase the risk of relapse from these causes during a 12-month period after smoking cessation. Participants included 121 treatment-seeking smokers who quit smoking at the end of treatment and relapsed during a 12-month follow-up period (60.3% female;Mage = 42.57, SD = 11.07). Results indicated that the most frequent smoking relapse situations occurred when smokers experienced positive (e.g., being relaxed; 43.0%) or negative (e.g., being angry; 37.2%) affect or cigarette dependence–related situations (e.g., craving; 19.8%). At an individual level, males with a higher level of education and without a psychopharmaceutical prescription had a higher risk of relapsing in positive-affect situations. Smoking the first cigarette at an older age increased the risk of relapse in negative-affect situations. Finally, being younger and less motivated to quit at pretreatment increased the likelihood of relapse in cigarette dependence–related situations. These findings provide detailed information about smoking relapse situations and identify a set of characteristics that might help to improve current relapse-prevention interventions.