The correlation between depression with cigarette smoking and cannabis use has been well studied through the years. Due to the recent rise in electronic delivery systems, it is time for new research to explain if this new delivery system changes the relationship between depression and nicotine. That is what this study aims to do, as well as predict the trajectories of cigarette, cannabis use, and more, among 18–19-year-olds at the start of the study to when they are ages 22-23 at the end of the study.
The participants consist of 2,264 students between the ages of 18-19. The students were from 24 colleges in several big cities in Texas. Retention rate of participants for the last semester of the study was 69.7%. The students gave data online every six months between the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2017. After the Spring of 2017, students gave data annually until the spring of 2019. The final two years of the study showed that cigarette use is at an all-time low, but electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are becoming a strong presence. Cannabis legalization is increasing and thus cannabis being used alongside ENDS products has been increasing.
These study’s findings showed that existing cigarette interventions are viably applicable to cannabis and ENDS use. Second, assessing nicotine and cannabis use history in clinical application and intervention establishes a longitudinal pattern that is essential to predict that individual’s pattern of use. The study found that the trajectories of ENDS are similar to that of cigarette and cannabis use aside from the last two years of the study. No significant findings were found between the association of depression and increasing ENDS but evidence was found that established association the preexisting association between cigarettes and cannabis use is still present for ENDS users regardless of the new delivery system.
Takeaway: Electronic delivery nicotine systems are rising in popularity while cigarettes are on the decline. Electronic delivery nicotine systems do not affect the correlation between depression and nicotine.