What influences adolescents to continuously use e-cigarettes?

Abstract

The use of e-cigarettes is rapidly increasing in adolescents. Health care providers pay attention to e-cigarette users because of the risk of developing addiction and problematic behavior. Based on ecological perspective, this study investigated factors influencing continued e-cigarette use. We classified 1556 current e-cigarette users into experimental and continued users using the Korean national representative data. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and logistic regression based on a complex sample analysis. Among current e-cigarette users, 55.1% were continued users. Adolescents who use e-cigarettes because of the belief that they are less harmful than cigarettes, concealment, easy purchase, and adding various flavors had a high risk of continued use. Continued users were more likely to have a higher weekly allowance, lower rate of living with family, and higher chance of smoking parents and exposure to passive smoking at home. Continued e-cigarette use was influenced by interpersonal and environmental factors, such as ease of purchase and addition of flavoring substances. Improving the environment of adolescents can prevent continued use of e-cigarettes.