Vaping have become more prevalent among young adults throughout the last several years. E-cigarette products are widely available and not yet tightly regulated and available in non-tobacco flavored solutions. The current study looks at combinations of devices and flavors used in a cohort of young adults from a Southern California region.
3,396 adolescents were followed into young adulthood for this study with the current study pulling data from Wave 9. 550 young adults were included and reported past 30-day nicotine vaping. Participants were asked if they had used different electronic nicotine devices during the past month. These devices included things like JUUL, vape pen, and mods. Flavors were assessed by asking participants which types of flavoring they use with electronic nicotine devices. These included flavorless, tobacco flavored, menthol/mint, and sweet. They also asked about flavoring with JUUL use. Nicotine vaping and cigarette smoking frequency was also assessed by asking about use during the previous month.
Participants were separated into 3 classes based on results. The most common class was Any Pod-Mint/Menthol or Sweet/Fruit Flavor Users and included 47% of the sample. The second class was Non-JUUL-Sweet/Fruit Flavor Users and included 38% of the sample. The final class was Poly-Device-Poly-Flavor Users and included 25% of the sample. The Poly Users class had higher frequencies of past 30-day nicotine vaping and cigarette smoking and were more likely to have higher parental education. These findings show that young adults that will use many different devices and flavors may be at risk for higher levels of smoking and vaping. Results show that regulations targeting many of the vaping products may help to protect young adult health.
Take Away: The current study looks at combinations of tobacco product devices and flavors used in a cohort of young adults from a Southern California region. 550 young adults were included in the wave used for this study and had to report past 30-day nicotine vaping. Measures included product use during the previous 30 days, flavors used, and smoking frequency. Participants were separated into 3 classes based on results. The most common class was Any Pod-Mint/Menthol or Sweet/Fruit Flavor Users (47%). The second class was Non-JUUL-Sweet/Fruit Flavor Users (38%). The final class was Poly-Device-Poly-Flavor Users (25%).The Poly Users class had higher frequencies of past 30-day nicotine vaping and cigarette smoking. These findings show young adults using different devices and flavors may be at risk for higher levels of smoking and vaping.