Loneliness and smoking: The costs of the desire to reconnect

People have a fundamental need to belong, which influences self and identity regulation processes and health outcomes. Deficits in belongingness motivate people to seek out sources of renewed affiliation. What consequences might this desire for reconnection have for smoking? The current work proposes a theoretical model in which feelings of social exclusion predict higher rates of smoking, presumably out of desire to regain a sense of social...