What influences adolescents to continuously use e-cigarettes?

In a study of adolescents who have used e-cigarettes in the past month, certain factors were associated with frequent use.

In the Public Health Nursing study of 1,556 adolescents in Korea, 55.1% reported that they had used e-cigarettes for 6 to 30 days in the past month and 44.9% used them from 1 to 5 days. Using e-cigarettes because of the belief they may be less harmful than cigarettes, they can be concealed, they're easy to purchase, and they have various added flavors were factors linked to more frequent use. Also, frequent users were more likely to have a higher weekly allowance, less likely to live with family, and more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke at home.

"Due to the characteristics of e-cigarettes, such as ease of purchase and the addition of taste and flavoring, the risk of continued use in adolescents is particularly high," said corresponding author Hyunmi Son, Ph.D., RN, an associate professor at Pusan National University, in South Korea. "Regulation of e-cigarettes may prevent continued use among adolescents."