Associations between personality, environment, and behavior and current E-cigarette use among a sample of college students.

Objective

E-cigarette use has increased among the U.S. population in recent years with estimates showing that nearly 15% of American adults have tried an e-cigarette. Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) identifies various factors influencing engagement in problem behaviors. This study explores PBT factors differentiating from current and non-current e-cigarette use among college students.

Participants

A sample of 1,083 college students over the age of 18 was collected from a Mid-Atlantic university.

Methods

Data was analyzed using a recursive partitioning (RP) model.

Results

The RP model produced a parsimonious tree explaining 21.0% of the variance in current e-cigarette use. Significant explanatory variables included having most or all of friends who vape nicotine and greater cannabis involvement.

Conclusion

This study supports RP's utility in examining health behaviors like substance use, highlighting variables for future prevention and intervention efforts. Tailored approaches targeting these factors could reduce e-cigarette use among college students.