title: E-cigarette Use and Beliefs Among Urban Public High School Students in North Carolina.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence, attitudes, and risk factors associated with electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among high school students in tobacco growing state.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 47-item e-cigarette questionnaire modeled after Monitoring the Future with additional information about demographics, adolescent and family nicotine use, and school and health care interventions was designed, piloted, and administered to public high school students (N = 3,298) in May 2013, in an urban county in North Carolina.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Completers (2,769/3,298) were aged 16.4 years (standard deviation ± 1.4) with 48.9% males and 43.9% African-American, 38% white, and 4.6% Hispanics. The majority (77.3%) knew about e-cigarettes; 15.2% reported that they had tried an e-cigarette, and 60% reported that e-cigarettes were safe or had minimal health hazards. Only 5.4% reported that schools had offered information about e-cigarette use. One quarter (24.9%) reported ever cigarette smoking, and 13.3% reported ever using smokeless tobacco. E-cigarette use was positively associated with older age, tobacco use, male gender, Caucasian race, mother's e-cigarette use, biological parents' tobacco use, and lower academic performance, whereas negatively associated with having a mother who never used e-cigarettes, not knowing any e-cigarette users, and living with mother (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  E-cigarette use and awareness is evident among high school students in North Carolina. A high number of smokers and smokeless tobacco users are using e-cigarettes simultaneously, and many perceive e-cigarettes as healthy and with minimal health hazards. Also, there is limited school-based education about e-cigarettes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatric Medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. Electronic address: VAnandAiims23@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatric Medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Kaye L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: McGinty
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, College of Allied Health Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guenthner
authors.affiliation: Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, College of Nursing and College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Adolescents; E-cigarettes; Nicotine; Smoking; Students