ENDS Youth & Young Adults

Studies, Surveys, Papers, and Case Studies

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Brain Damage/Cognative impaiment

2017 Moist smokeless tobacco (Snus) use and risk of Parkinson's disease

• Smoke-free nicotine appears to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 60%.

Fluharty et al (2016). The association of cigarette smoking with depression and anxiety: a systematic review. Nicotine & Tobacco Research

• “The literature on the prospective association between smoking and depression and anxiety is inconsistent in terms of the direction of association most strongly supported. This suggests the need for future studies that employ different methodologies, such as Mendelian randomization. . . . Two studies that have used [Mendelian randomization] have found no evidence to support a causal association between smoking and depression and anxiety, while another found evidence to suggest that smoking was associated with lower odds of depression during pregnancy.”

== 2016 Adolescent caffeine consumption increases adulthood anxiety-related behavior and modifies neuroendocrine signaling and

2015 Caffeine triggers behavioral and neurochemical alterations in adolescent rats == 

2015 Smoking During Adolescence as a Risk Factor for Attention Problems

• "Educational achievement did not differ within twin pairs discordant for smoking, in adults and adolescents." Treur et al. "Smoking during adolescence as a risk factor for attention problems." (2015) Biol. psychiatry

2010 Associations between IQ and cigarette smoking among Swedish male twins

• “The (inverse) IQ–smoking association disappeared after adjustments for shared environment and genetics.” Wennerstad, Karin Modig, et al. "Associations between IQ and cigarette smoking among Swedish male twins." Social science & medicine

2010 Smoking, childhood IQ and cognitive function in old age

• “Past smoking was not associated with significantly poorer performance than never smokers in any cognitive domain.”

2010 Meta-analysis of the acute effects of nicotine and smoking on human performance and 2012 Nicotine treatment of mild cognitive impairment A 6-month double-blind pilot clinical trial

• Clinical studies suggest some cognitive improvements as a result of nicotine.

Gateway

2020: Association of initial e-cigarette and other tobacco product use with subsequent cigarette smoking in adolescents: a cross-sectional, matched control study

In conclusion, this matched control analysis of NYTS data from 2014 to 2017 suggests that for adolescents initiation with e-cigarettes is associated with a reduced risk of subsequent cigarette smoking compared with initiators with other combustible and non-combustible tobacco products use, and propensity score matched adolescents without initial e-cigarette use. This suggests that, over the time period considered, e-cigarettes were unlikely to have acted as an important gateway towards cigarette smoking and may, in fact, have acted as a gateway away from smoking for vulnerable adolescents; this is consistent with the decrease in youth cigarette smoking prevalence over the same time period that youth e-cigarette use increased between 2014 and 2017.

2019 The Impact of Electronic Cigarettes on Cigarette Smoking By Americans and Its Health and Economic Implications

In this study, we examined the growing use of electronic cigarettes and its implications. The wide use of e-cigarettes is a very recent development, and issues regarding their long-term effects and significance cannot be fully analyzed at this time. Using CDC and other data covering the last decade, however, we examined the relationship between the recent sharp increase in e-cigarette use among Americans and the contemporaneous acceleration in the declining rate of cigarette smoking. We found that the sharp increase in e-cigarette use across many groups can explain as much as 70 percent of the accelerating decline in smoking rates. We also found no reasonable evidential basis for concerns that e-cigarettes are a gateway to cigarette smoking. We further found that e-cigarettes are highly effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes. Finally, we analyzed the impact of the sharp increase in e-cigarette use and the accelerating decline in cigarette smoking on healthcare costs and economic productivity. We found that while e-cigarette users incur lower healthcare costs than cigarette smokers or ex-smokers, the longer lifespans of e-cigarette users and ex-smokers who used e-cigarettes to quit smoking result in higher lifetime healthcare costs. However, we also found that the value of the additional years of life associated with using e-cigarettes instead of smoking is much greater than the additional healthcare costs. Lastly, we found that the increase in e-cigarette use and the associated reduction in smoking rates results in large productivity benefits, mainly from lower rates of illness.

==2015: The Impact of Flavor Descriptors on Nonsmoking Teens’ and Adult Smokers’ Interest in Electronic Cigarettes == Nonsmoking teens’ interest in e-cigarettes was very low. Adult smokers’ interest was significantly higher overall and for each flavor. Teen interest did not vary by flavor, but adult interest did. Past-30-day adult e-cigarette users had the greatest interest in e-cigarettes, and their interest was most affected by flavor. Nonsmoking teens who had never tried e-cigarettes had the lowest interest, followed by adults who had never tried e-cigarettes

Youth Use / Risky Behaviors / ACE’s

2020: Up in Smoke: Exploring the Relationship between Bullying Victimization and E-Cigarette Use in Sexual Minority Youths

Conclusions/Importance: These findings suggest that sexual minority students who report cyberbullying victimization may use cigarette and e-cigarette products more than their non-cyberbullied peers.

2020: Changes from 2017 to 2018 in e-cigarette use and in ever marijuana use with e-cigarettes among US adolescents: analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey

Frequent and daily e-cigarette use was by far lower in never-smokers compared with ever-smokers.

2020: 'Vaping and fidget-spinners': A qualitative, longitudinal study of e-cigarettes in adolescence

Vaping in the study represented a time-limited trend rather than a steady user pattern. Drivers out of vaping were changes in peer-group perceptions, diminished novelty and lack of addiction as the youth vaped non-nicotine-containing e-liquids. In this study I have found evidence that e-cigarettes or vaping devices can represent fashionable experimentation rather than steady user patterns.

==2019: Epidemic of Youth Nicotine Addiction? What does the National Youth Tobacco Survey reveal about high school e-cigarette use in the USA?== By Martin J Jarvis, Robert J West, Jamie Brown Shows the relation of youth usage to youth that had a previous addiction to cigarettes Blog: The 2018 American Teen Vaping Epidemic, Recalculated

==2016: E-Cigarette Uptake Amongst UK Youth: Experimentation, but Little or No Regular Use in Nonsmokers== Letter

==2016: Survey on the use of electronic cigarettes and tobacco among children in middle and high school== RESULTS: Among the students, 56% had tried an electronic cigarette at least once (boys: 59.9%, girls: 49.3%; ranging from 31.3% for the 8th grade students to 66.1% for the 12th grades). However, only 3.4% reported that they used electronic cigarettes every day. Initiation of e-cigarette use in these teenagers was principally due to use by friends or triggered by curiosity and they usually choose fruit or sweet flavours initially. The majority could not give the concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes that they used. Moreover, 61.5% of the students had ever tried tobacco and 22.3% were daily smokers. Our study found a strong link between vaping and smoking. 80% of the students who had ever tried conventional cigarettes (94% for the daily smokers) had also tried an electronic cigarette, versus 16% of the students who have never smoked. Few students (6.2%) used electronic cigarettes without smoking tobacco too. Usually, they have tried tobacco before trying an electronic cigarette. Only tobacco smokers seem to smoke electronic cigarettes with nicotine. CONCLUSION: Although our study shows that teenagers frequently try electronic cigarettes, it does not prove, for the moment, that vaping itself usually leads to nicotine addiction. However, as most of the teenagers are unable to tell if the electronic cigarette they are testing contains nicotine, it raises the possibility that they could be vulnerable to manipulation by the tobacco industry.

2016: Nicotine concentration of e-cigarettes used by adolescents

Adolescents reported using nicotine-free e-liquid (28.5%), nicotine e-liquid (37.4%), or not knowing their e-liquid nicotine concentration (34.1%). Nicotine users comprised more smokers and heavier e-cigarette users compared to nicotine-free e-liquid users and those who did not know their nicotine concentration.

2015: Associations between e-cigarette access and smoking and drinking behaviours (behaviors) in teenagers

Results: “One in five participants reported having accessed e-cigarettes (19.2%). Prevalence was highest among smokers (rising to 75.8% in those smoking >5 per day), although 15.8% of teenagers that had accessed e-cigarettes had never smoked conventional cigarettes (v.13.6% being ex-smokers). E-cigarette access was independently associated with male gender, having parents/guardians that smoke and students’ alcohol use. Compared with non-drinkers, teenagers that drank alcohol at least weekly and binge drank were more likely to have accessed e-cigarettes (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.89, P < 0.001), with this association particularly strong among never-smokers (AOR 4.59, P < 0.001). Among drinkers, e-cigarette access was related to: drinking to get drunk, alcohol-related violence, consumption of spirits; self-purchase of alcohol from shops or supermarkets; and accessing alcohol by recruiting adult proxy purchasers outside shops.”

2014: Parent, Peer, and Executive Function Relationships to Early Adolescent E-Cigarette Use: A Substance Use Pathway?

Lifetime use prevalence was 11.0% for e-cigarettes, 6.8% for cigarettes, and 38.1% for alcohol. Free lunch and age were marginally related to e-cigarette use (p<.10). Parent e-cigarette ownership was associated with the use of all substances, while peer use was associated with gateway drug use (p’s<.05-.001). EF (Executive Function) deficits were associated with the use of all substances five times more likely than others to use e-cigarettes and over twice as likely to use gateway drugs. E-cigarette and gateway drug use may have common underlying risk factors in early adolescence, including parent and peer modeling of substance use, as well as EF deficits. Future research is needed to examine longitudinal relationships of demographics, parent and peer modeling, and EF deficits to e-cigarette use in larger samples, trajectories of e-cigarette use compared to use of other substances, and the potential of EF skills training programs to prevent e-cigarette use.

2013: Adolescent Males' Awareness of and Willingness to Try Electronic Cigarettes

Only two participants (< 1%) had previously tried e-cigarettes. Among those who had not tried e-cigarettes, most (67%) had heard of them. Awareness was higher among older and non-Hispanic adolescents. Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) participants were willing to try either a plain or flavored e-cigarette, but willingness to try plain versus flavored varieties did not differ. Smokers were more willing to try any e-cigarette than nonsmokers (74% vs. 13%; OR 10.25, 95% CI 2.88, 36.46). Nonsmokers who had more negative beliefs about the typical smoker were less willing to try e-cigarettes (OR .58, 95% CI .43, .79).

Youth and Regulations

2020: Perverse Psychology How Anti-Vaping Campaigners Created the Youth Vaping “Epidemic”

It is reasonable for anti-tobacco advocates to worry about youth experimentation with nicotine, but the evidence is clear that their interventions have backfired and made the problem worse. Their attempts to dissuade teenagers from vaping increased their awareness of the behavior, made it more attractive, and convinced them that everyone around them was doing it. Anti-tobacco advocates argue that the government can end the “epidemic” by raising the minimum tobacco age to 21, banning non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors, and increasing funding for anti-vaping education. But, as this paper has demonstrated, these measures will not only fail, they will actually make matters worse by increasing the coolness of vaping and youth attraction to it. Teen vaping did not escalate despite the increased anti-vaping messaging. Adolescents’ curiosity and subsequent experimentation with vaping rose because of anti-vaping messaging.

2019: E-cigarette minimum legal sale age laws and traditional cigarette use among rural pregnant teenagers

E-cigarette Regulations Increase Prenatal Cigarette Use Among Teen Smokers, Study Shows (Article) Teenagers under 18 could legally purchase e-cigarettes until states passed minimum legal sale age laws. These laws may have curtailed teenagers' use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. These results suggest that the laws reduced cigarette smoking cessation during pregnancy rather than causing new cigarette smoking initiation. Our results may indicate an unmet need for assistance with smoking cessation among pregnant teenagers.

2016: Study The influence of electronic cigarette age purchasing restrictions on adolescent tobacco and marijuana use

Conclusion: “We document a concerning trend of cigarette smoking among adolescents increasing when ENDS become more difficult to purchase.”

==2015: Study: How does electronic cigarette access affect adolescent smoking?== Abstract: “Understanding electronic cigarettes’ effect on tobacco smoking is a central economic and policy issue. This paper examines the causal impact of e-cigarette access on conventional cigarette use by adolescents. Regression analyses consider how state bans on e-cigarette sales to minors influence smoking rates among 12 to 17 year olds. Such bans yield a statistically significant 0.9 percentage point increase in recent smoking in this age group, relative to states without such bans. Results are robust to multiple specifications as well as several falsification and placebo checks. This effect is both consistent with e-cigarette access reducing smoking among minors, and large: banning electronic cigarette sales to minors counteracts 70 percent of the downward pre-trend in teen cigarette smoking for a given two-year period.”

Young Adults

2020: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Health Indicators in a Young Adult, College Student Sample: Differences by Gender

Approximately 51.7% of the sample reported at least one ACE We observed graded relationships between levels of ACE exposure and physical, mental, and behavioral health indicators including cigarette use, e-cigarette use, drinking and driving, obesity, lifetime depression, suicide ideation and attempt, non-suicidal self-injury, and lack of restful sleep. ACE-exposed females reported worse mental health status than ACE-exposed males while males reported more substance use than females. Most outcomes did not vary significantly by sex.

2016: A Randomized Trial Comparing the Effect of Nicotine Versus Placebo Electronic Cigarettes on Smoking Reduction Among Young Adult Smokers

Study subjects (n = 99) were young adult (21–35), current smokers A diverse young adult sample of current everyday smokers, who were not ready to quit, was able to reduce smoking with the help of ECs.

==2015: Risky behaviors, e-cigarette use and susceptibility of use among college students== Conclusion: “More e-cigarette users report use of another nicotine product besides e-cigarettes as the first nicotine product used; this should be considered when examining whether e-cigarette use is related to cigarette susceptibility. Involvement in risky behaviors is related to e-cigarette use and susceptibility to e-cigarette use. Among college students, e-cigarette use is more likely to occur in those who have also used other tobacco products, marijuana, and/or alcohol.”

2015: Changes in use of cigarettes and non-cigarette alternative products among college students

RESULTS: The most prevalent products used by the entire sample at Wave 1 were cigarettes, followed by hookah, cigars/cigarillos/little cigars, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). At Wave 2, prevalence of e-cigarette use surpassed use of cigars/cigarillos/little cigars. Snus and chew/snuff/dip were relatively uncommon at both waves. Examination of change in use indicated that e-cigarette use increased across time among both current cigarette smokers and non-cigarette smokers. Prevalence of current e-cigarette use doubled across the 14-month period to 25% among current smokers and tripled to 3% among non-cigarette smokers. Hookah use also increased across time, but only among non-cigarette smokers, whereas it decreased among current cigarette smokers. Use of all other non-cigarette alternatives remained unchanged across time. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the socio-demographic predictors of Wave 2 e-cigarette use, the only product that increased in use among both current cigarette smokers and non-cigarette smokers. Results indicated that Wave 1 current cigarette use and Wave 1 current e-cigarette use, but not gender, age, or race/ethnicity, were significantly associated with Wave 2 e-cigarette use.

2015: Electronic Cigarette Trial and Use among Young Adults: Reasons for Trial and Cessation of Vaping

Conclusion: …”We also see that about one third of former smokers and over 7% of never smokers report having tried e-cigarettes, and current use is 10% and 2% in these groups, respectively. Similar findings have led others to raise concerns that e-cigarette use is a threat to public health because it can lead to combustible tobacco use, presumably among those who otherwise would not have become smokers [2]. However, it is extremely rare for e-cigarette use to be the first exposure to nicotine in young adults. It was reported by fewer than 0.4% of the never smokers, and none of the current and former smokers. This may be a cohort effect, and e-cigarette use as the initial exposure to nicotine may become more common as younger cohorts, who are experimenting with vaping at higher and higher rates, mature [19]. Nevertheless, in this cohort, 99.6% of young adult never-smokers who tried e-cigarettes had previously used or experimented with another form of tobacco, suggesting that in these young adults tobacco is a gateway to e-cigarettes, rather than the reverse.”...

More Information

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