Michelle Clausen, Katelyn F Romm, Carla J Berg, Annie C Ciceron, Caroline Fuss, Breesa Bennett, Daisy Le
{"title":"Exploring young adults' e-cigarette use behavior during COVID-19.","authors":"Michelle Clausen, Katelyn F Romm, Carla J Berg, Annie C Ciceron, Caroline Fuss, Breesa Bennett, Daisy Le","doi":"10.18332/tpc/155332","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Changes in daily life related to COVID-19 have impacted e-cigarette use, particularly in young adults. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study explored young adults' perceptions regarding how COVID-19 influenced their e-cigarette use.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We analyzed Fall 2020 survey data from 726 past 6-month e-cigarette users (mean age=24.15 years, 51.1% female, 35.5% sexual minority, 4.4% Black, 10.2% Asian, 12.1% Hispanic) and Spring 2021 semi-structured interview data among a subset of 40 participants (mean age=26.30 years, 35.0% female, 45.0% sexual minority, 5.0% Black, 22.5% Asian, 12.5% Hispanic). Participants were drawn from 6 metropolitan statistical areas with varied tobacco and cannabis legislative contexts.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among survey participants, 44.4% also smoked cigarettes, 54.0% other tobacco products, and 60.1% used cannabis. They reported various changes in their daily lives, including changes in the nature and/or status of employment (e.g. 15.3% were laid off, 72.8% experienced household income loss). Regarding changes in e-cigarette use since COVID-19, 22.6% tried to cut down and 16.0% tried to quit. Interview participants commonly indicated that they increased their use due to stress, boredom, changes in accessibility, and/or changes to daily environment that made e-cigarette use more feasible.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Results highlight the importance of promoting opportunities for young adults to build relationships to decrease stress, foster a sense of belonging, and increase quality of life (e.g. increasing the accessibility to mental health and social support services, intentionally engaging young adults in pandemic-appropriate community-building and extracurricular activities). This research may help to inform future e-cigarette cessation interventions that consider the unique challenges of societal stressors, such as pandemics.</p>","PeriodicalId":44546,"journal":{"name":"Tobacco Prevention & Cessation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9753572/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Tobacco Prevention & Cessation","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.18332/tpc/155332","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SUBSTANCE ABUSE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Changes in daily life related to COVID-19 have impacted e-cigarette use, particularly in young adults. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study explored young adults' perceptions regarding how COVID-19 influenced their e-cigarette use.
Methods: We analyzed Fall 2020 survey data from 726 past 6-month e-cigarette users (mean age=24.15 years, 51.1% female, 35.5% sexual minority, 4.4% Black, 10.2% Asian, 12.1% Hispanic) and Spring 2021 semi-structured interview data among a subset of 40 participants (mean age=26.30 years, 35.0% female, 45.0% sexual minority, 5.0% Black, 22.5% Asian, 12.5% Hispanic). Participants were drawn from 6 metropolitan statistical areas with varied tobacco and cannabis legislative contexts.
Results: Among survey participants, 44.4% also smoked cigarettes, 54.0% other tobacco products, and 60.1% used cannabis. They reported various changes in their daily lives, including changes in the nature and/or status of employment (e.g. 15.3% were laid off, 72.8% experienced household income loss). Regarding changes in e-cigarette use since COVID-19, 22.6% tried to cut down and 16.0% tried to quit. Interview participants commonly indicated that they increased their use due to stress, boredom, changes in accessibility, and/or changes to daily environment that made e-cigarette use more feasible.
Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of promoting opportunities for young adults to build relationships to decrease stress, foster a sense of belonging, and increase quality of life (e.g. increasing the accessibility to mental health and social support services, intentionally engaging young adults in pandemic-appropriate community-building and extracurricular activities). This research may help to inform future e-cigarette cessation interventions that consider the unique challenges of societal stressors, such as pandemics.