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Electronic cigarettes are becoming more and more popular. They are believed to be less harmful than regular ones, and some use them to gradually quit smoking. However, the reverse situation is also possible – those who start smoking electronic cigarettes may later switch to regular ones.
Electronic cigarettes are becoming more popular among young people – for example, in the United States in 2010-2011, only 3% of high school students tried them, and in 2013-2014 – already from 10 to 20%.
Social psychologist Thomas Wills, who works on cancer prevention at the University of Hawaii at Honolulu (USA), and colleagues conducted a study in which they interviewed more than 2000 high school students living on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The survey was conducted twice, with an interval of a year (in 2013 and 2014). Teenagers answered whether they had ever smoked electronic or regular cigarettes. Those who answered yes to this question had to additionally indicate how often they smoke (tried once, tried several times, smoked several times a month, several times a week, or daily). In addition, psychologists asked young people a series of questions designed to determine their psychological characteristics – in particular, the tendency to rebelliousness and the constant search for new experiences.
It turned out that at the time of the first survey in 2013, 31% of schoolchildren tried e-cigarettes, while 21% smoked them only 4 times or less in their lives, and only a few percent of respondents said they smoked them daily or several times a week.
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A follow-up survey a year later showed that any experience of using e-cigarettes increased the risk that a student would try regular cigarettes. Overall, only 5% of those who did not try any cigarettes in 2013 had tried regular cigarettes at least once in the past year. Of those who have already tried e-cigarettes, 14% have tried regular ones.
10% of high school students who did not smoke in 2013 had tried e-cigarettes by the time of the next survey. They were especially often used by those who, during the survey, stated that they considered these cigarettes to be less harmful than regular ones.
Notably, e-cigarettes did not help teen smokers reduce their regular cigarette consumption.
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According to the researchers, the findings support the hypothesis that e-cigarette smoking during adolescence increases the risk that young people will also start smoking conventional cigarettes. They suggest that e-cigarettes help teens get used to the effects of nicotine and inhale the smoke-like vapor, and then switch to cigarettes in search of a stronger sensation. In this regard, scientists support the restriction or prohibition of the sale of such devices to minors.
Подробнее см. Т. Wills et al. «Longitudinal study of e-cigarette use and onset of cigarette smoking among high school students in Hawaii», Tobacco Control, January 2016.