Conditional risk assessment of adolescents' electronic cigarette perceptions.
OBJECTIVE
To adapt an established instrument for measuring adolescents' cigarette-related perceptions for new application with electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).


METHODS
In this exploratory study, 104 male high school students (40% tobacco ever-users) estimated the probability of potential e-cigarette risks (eg, lung cancer) or benefits (eg, look cool). We calculated associations between risk/benefit composite scores, ever-use, and use intention for e-cigarettes, and analogously, for combustible cigarettes.


RESULTS
E-cigarette ever-use was associated with lower perceived risks, with adjusted differences versus never-users greater for e-cigarettes than for cigarettes. Risk composite score was inversely associated, and benefit score positively associated, with e-cigarette ever-use and use intention.


CONCLUSIONS
Conditional risk assessment characterized adolescents' perceived e-cigarette risk/benefit profile, with potential utility for risk-perception measurement in future studies.
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. benjamin.chaffee@ucsf.edu.
Benjamin W
BW
Chaffee
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Stuart A
SA
Gansky
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Bonnie
B
Halpern-Felsher
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Elizabeth T
ET
Couch
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Gwen
G
Essex
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Margaret M
MM
Walsh
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*