Adolescents' attitudes towards e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, and regulation

Introduction:
This text discusses a study examining adolescents' attitudes towards e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, and regulation. The study also compares attitudes between adolescents who have and have not used cigarettes and/or e-cigarettes. The key points and main message of the study are summarized below.

Key Points:

* The study surveyed 786 9th and 12th graders from California, with 63.21% females and a mean age of 16.10 years.
* Participants were asked about their attitudes towards e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, accessibility, price, and regulation.
* Results showed that many adolescents had misperceptions about e-cigarettes, including that they are safer than cigarettes, help people quit smoking, and do not contain nicotine.
* Adolescents who had used e-cigarettes or cigarettes in the past had more favorable attitudes and greater misperceptions about e-cigarettes compared to non-users.
* Participants felt that it was more acceptable to use e-cigarettes indoors and outdoors compared to cigarettes.
* Participants had varying levels of support for e-cigarette regulation, with 64.37% favoring regulation and 23.13% feeling that raising e-cigarette taxes is a bad idea.
* Adolescents generally thought that e-cigarettes were easier to get than cigarettes and that if e-cigarettes were more expensive, teenagers would be less likely to use them.

Main Message:
The study highlights the need for providing adolescents with correct information about e-cigarette ingredients, risks, and the insufficient evidence of their role in cigarette cessation. The relationship between favorable e-cigarette attitudes and use suggests that addressing adolescents' misperceptions may help deter e-cigarette use. The findings also indicate that regulations, such as raising the age for buying e-cigarettes and increasing taxes, may be important in preventing e-cigarette use among adolescents.

Gorukanti, Anuradha, Kevin Delucchi, Pamela Ling, Raymond Fisher-Travis, and Bonnie Halpern-Felsher. “Adolescents’ Attitudes towards e-Cigarette Ingredients, Safety, Addictive Properties, Social Norms, and Regulation.” Preventive Medicine 94 (January 2017): 65–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.10.019.