Changes in Electronic Cigarette Use from 2013 to 2015 and Reasons for Use among Finnish Adolescents.
Electronic cigarettes are quite a new potential source of nicotine addiction among youth. More research is needed, particularly on e-liquid use and socioeconomic factors as potential determinants. We studied changes from 2013 to 2015 in adolescent e-cigarette awareness and ever-use, types of e-liquids, and determinants in Finland. In 2015, we studied weekly use and reasons for ever-use. Data were from two national surveys of 12-18-year-old Finns (2013,n= 3535, response rate 38%; 2015,n= 6698, 41%). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used. Awareness and ever-use of e-cigarettes increased significantly from 2013 to 2015 in all age and gender groups. Ever-use increased from 17.4% to 25%, with half having tried nicotine e-liquids. In 2015, weekly use was rare (1.5%). Daily cigarette smoking was the strongest determinant (OR 51.75; 95% CI 38.18-70.14) for e-cigarette ever-use, as for e-cigarette weekly use, but smoking experimentation and ever-use of snus (Swedish type moist snuff) and waterpipes alongside parental smoking and poor academic achievement also increased the odds for ever-use. The most common reason behind e-cigarette ever-use was the desire to try something new. To conclude, adolescent e-cigarette ever-use is increasing, and also among never-smokers. Tobacco-related factors are stronger determinants for e-cigarette use than socioeconomic factors.
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland. jaana.m.kinnunen@staff.uta.fi.
Jaana M
JM
Kinnunen
Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, 00271 Helsinki, Finland. hanna.ollila@thl.fi.
Hanna
H
Ollila
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland. pirjo.lindfors@uta.fi.|PERLA-Tampere Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Research, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland. pirjo.lindfors@uta.fi.
Pirjo L
PL
Lindfors
School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland. arja.rimpela@uta.fi.|PERLA-Tampere Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Research, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland. arja.rimpela@uta.fi.|Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitkäniemi Hospital, Tampere University Hospital, 33380 Nokia, Finland. arja.rimpela@uta.fi.
Arja H
AH
Rimpelä
D000293:Adolescent; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
Finland; adolescents; electronic cigarette; electronic nicotine delivery system; tobacco use