Objective: This study assessed the relationship between health literacy, perceptions of traditional and electronic cigarettes, and smoking status among college students.
Participants: Participants (N = 150; Mage= 20.41 years, SD 3.48), included nonsmokers (78%) and smokers (21%) of traditional (12%) and e-cigarettes (17%).
Method: Participants completed a novel questionnaire to assess perceptions of traditional and e-cigarettes, and the Health Literacy Skills Instrument to evaluate health literacy.
Results: Traditional cigarettes were perceived as having a greater negative impact on physical health than e-cigarettes, whereas e-cigarettes were perceived as having a greater positive impact on social-emotional health than traditional cigarettes. Most participants (57%) had below basic health literacy skills.
Conclusions: This study did not find a relationship between health literacy skills and smoking status or smoking perceptions. Further research is needed to investigate correlates of smoking status and perceptions to inform prevention and cessation efforts.
Keywords: College students; e-cigarette; health behavior; health literacy; smoking.