Objective  To explore the predictive effect of meta-emotion on success of smoking cessation in schizophrenic patients.

Methods  A total of 173 men with schizophrenia who quit smoking were followed up for 12 months, and the time of re-smoking after quitting was recorded. Meta-emotion, perceived stress and nicotine dependence were assessed by Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), Cohens Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).

Results  Mediating analysis showed that nicotine dependence could not only predicted the time to relapse directly, but also predicted the time to relapse through the mediating effect of stress perception. Direct effect (0.161) and intermediate effect (0.031) accounted for 83.85% and 16.15% of the total effect (0.192), respectively. Regulatory analysis showed that the product of stress perception and emotional repair had a significant predictive effects on the time of cessation and relapse (β=0.005, t=1.979, P=0.049). The stress perception of patients with low level of emotional repair had a significant negative predictive effect on the time of re-smoking after quitting (β=-0.293, t=-3.087, P=0.002). Stress perception had no predictive effect on the time of re-smoking after cessation in patients with high level of emotional repair (β=0.010, t=0.084, P=0.933).

Conclusion  Emotional repair ability regulates the influence of stress perception and alleviates the indirect effect of nicotine dependence on the time of re-smoking after quitting. The addition of meta-emotional training can improve the prognosis of patients with schizophrenia who quit smoking.