The E-cigarette Social Environment, E-cigarette Use, and Susceptibility to Cigarette Smoking

Abstract

Purpose: One concern regarding the recent increase in adolescent e-cigarette use is the possibility that electronic (e-) cigarettes may be used by those who might not otherwise have used cigarettes, and that dual use, or transition to cigarette use alone, may follow.

Methods: Questionnaire data were obtained in 2014 from 11th/12th grade students attending schools in 12 communities included in the Southern California Children's Health Study. We evaluated the cross-sectional association between e-cigarette use, the social environment (family and friends' use and approval of e-cigarettes and cigarettes), and susceptibility to future cigarette use among never cigarette smokers (N = 1,694), using previously validated measures based on reported absence of a definitive commitment not to smoke.

Results: Among adolescents who had never used cigarettes, 31.8% of past e-cigarette users and 34.6% of current (past 30-day) e-cigarette users indicated susceptibility to cigarette use, compared with 21.0% of never e-cigarette users. The odds of indicating susceptibility to cigarette use were two times higher for current e-cigarette users compared with never users (odds ratio = 1.97; 95% confidence interval: 1.21-3.22). A social environment favorable to e-cigarettes (friends' use of and positive attitudes toward the use of e-cigarettes) was also associated with greater likelihood of susceptibility to cigarette use, independent of an individual's e-cigarette use.

Conclusions: E-cigarette use in adolescence, and a pro-e-cigarette social environment, may put adolescents at risk for future use of cigarettes. E-cigarettes may contribute to subsequent cigarette use via nicotine addiction or social normalization of smoking behaviors.

Keywords: Adolescents; E-cigarettes; Social environment; Susceptibility to smoking.