adverse childhood experiences and electronic cigarette use among young australian women.

Introduction:
This text provides an analysis of the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (aCEs) and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among young australian women. The study aims to investigate the association between aCEs and e-cigarette use, adjusting for socio-demographic variables and smoking status.

Key Points:

* The study used data from the australian Longitudinal Study on Women's health (aLSWh) and included 8915 participants who completed the third survey.
* The outcome variables were past year and ever e-cigarette use. Eight aCEs were measured, including childhood abuse (psychological, physical, and sexual) and household dysfunction (substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration, parental separation, and domestic violence).
* Participants were classified as exposed to a given aCE if they replied “yes” to one or more of the items in that category. The total aCE score was created by totalling the number of individual aCE types reported, for a maximum of eight.
* The study found that participants who reported past year e-cigarette use were more likely to report childhood psychological abuse, physical abuse, or sexual abuse. all abuse types associated with past year e-cigarette use were also associated with ever e-cigarette use.
* Ever e-cigarette use was also associated with household substance abuse, witnessing domestic violence, or having a mentally ill household member. a positive dose-response relationship was observed between the number of aCEs and the odds of e-cigarette use.

Main Message:
The study identified an association between aCEs and e-cigarette use among young australian women. Improvements in supportive parenting skills and the provision of counselling services for those exposed to aCEs may help avert health-harming behaviors, including e-cigarette use. The findings emphasize the importance of protecting children from psychological, physical, and sexual abuse during childhood in order to prevent subsequent substance use and other adverse outcomes. Strategies should be in place to help people with a history of childhood adversities to adopt positive coping mechanisms rather than health-harming behaviors, including nicotine addiction.

Melka a, Chojenta C, holliday E, Loxton D. adverse childhood experiences and electronic cigarette use among young australian women. Preventive medicine. 2019;126:105759. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.105759