Background
Methods
Procedures
Recruitment
Focus groups
Data analysis
Results
Participants
Characteristics | Mean (SD)/Frequency (n) |
---|---|
Age | 25.1 (5.5) |
Gender | |
Male | 63 % (39) |
Female | 37 % (23) |
Ethnicity | |
Asian-American | 19 % (12) |
African-American | 8 % (5) |
Filipino | 12 % (8) |
Hispanic/Latino | 7 % (4) |
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander | 23 % (14) |
White | 31 % (19) |
Annual Income | |
0–$19,999 | 30 % (18) |
$20,000–$29,999 | 16 % (10) |
$30,000–$39,999 | 13 % (8) |
$40,000–$49,999 | 20 % (12) |
$50,000 or more | 21 % (13) |
Length of time having been using e-cigarettes | |
Less than a week | 0 % (0) |
About 1–2 weeks | 2 % (1) |
About 1 month | 12 % (7) |
About 2–5 months | 26 % (16) |
About 6 months | 15 % (9) |
About 7–11 months | 5 % (3) |
About 1 year | 21 % (13) |
More than a year | 20 % (12) |
Size of e-liquid container usually bought | |
15 ml | 68 % (39) |
30 ml | 32 % (18) |
Other | 0 % (0) |
Length of time a container lasts | |
More than a month | 23 % (14) |
About a month | 16 % (10) |
3–4 weeks | 10 % (6) |
1–2 weeks | 38 % (23) |
Less than a week | 8 % (5) |
2–3 days | 3 % (2) |
1 day | 2 % (1) |
Less than a day | 0 % (0) |
Daily e-cigarette use behavior | |
Vape only few times a day | 26 % (16) |
Vape frequently but only at certain times of the day | 18 % (11) |
Vape frequently throughout the day | 40 % (25) |
Vape constantly throughout the day | 16 % (10) |
Lifetime cigarette use | |
Never smoked a cigarette | 3 % (2) |
Smoked < 100 cigarettes | 18 % (11) |
Smoked ≥ 100 cigarettes | 79 % (49) |
Cigarette use behavior | |
Do not smoke | 16 % (10) |
Smoke sometimes | 36 % (22) |
Smoke daily | 48 % (30) |
Past-30-day cigarette use | |
Yes | 63 % (39) |
No | 37 % (23) |
Contexts of cigarette use
Contexts | Quotes |
---|---|
Craving/stimulation | |
When strong stimulation is needed | “And I just recently bought a pack of cigarettes, over the weekend, just because I had to go to work at 5:00, and I only got two hours of sleep that night, so I was really off, like super tired. So I went to work, and at my break, I went to buy a pack of cigarettes to wake me up even more, so I could deal with customers and not seem tired. Because it’s so immediate, the effect of nicotine.” (20 year old man) |
When craving is strong | “It’s kind of hard to quit cigarettes though, it gives you that craving and you absolutely need it.” (23 year old woman) |
When stressed | “So there are times when I’m like, stressed out, or even if I’m just bored or had a long day or will have a long day like today, I’ll definitely go out for a cigarette.” (28 year old woman) |
As laxative | “So in the morning if I have to poop, I need a cigarette. Because I need to relax my body to get stuff out.” (25 year old man) |
Activities | |
After/before eating | ‘I think after you eat and you’re really full, cigarettes are better. Like for me I like it a lot better than my e-cig.’ (30 year old man) |
After work-out | “Actually my favorite time to smoke cigarette is after a workout. Because you just worked a lot of it out of your system, and then it hits you with the best head buzz, like you just started it again.” (24 year old man) |
After waking up/before going to bed | “[I have] been vaping for six months. I still smoke cigarettes twice a day. Once in the morning after waking up and once in the evening before going to bed”. (31 year old woman) |
After sex | “After a meal or after sex the e-cigarettes don’t cut it, you know what I mean?” (33 year old man) |
Places/situations | |
When cigarette or smokers are nearby | “And it depends on if cigarettes are near you. Like you said your roommate smokes, and my husband, when he’s home, he smokes cigarettes. So if there are cigarettes in my house, and they’re right there, it’s harder than if I just don’t buy them.” (33 year old woman) |
Special occasions | “So I’m a professional musician, so after gigs, usually. And then at rehearsals. Yeah, can’t avoid it.” (32 year old man) |
When not scheduled to meet anyone | “If I don’t have to see anybody for a few hours I’m going to smoke a regular cigarette.” (26 year old female) |
Outdoors | “I joke around it’s like I use e-cig to smoke indoors and use cigarettes to smoke outdoors.” (35 year old man) |
On the weekend/While partying | “I switch over to cigarettes on the weekend, when I am partying.” (22 year old man) |
When socializing with friends | “Other people smoking. Like if you’re with a group, and people go, ‘Let’s go outside for a smoke.’ Then you want to. It’s hard to be like, ‘I'll go with you, with my e-cig.’ I mean you can, which is nice, but it’s easy to want a real cigarette in that situation.” (26 year old woman) |
Other substances | |
When drunk | “When I’m drunk, I do prefer smoking cigarettes.”(27 year old man) |
When using marijuana | “But also the weed factor plays into it, because then I also need a real cigarette.” (22 year old man) |
With coffee | “I usually have to have a cigarette in the morning, when I’m drinking coffee.” (33 year old man) |
E-cigarette substitute | |
When e-cigarette is not available | “Like I said, I don’t have that urge to smoke. The only time I will smoke a cigarette is if I go out drinking, and this will die on me. Then I go out and buy a pack, or if I want to have a cigarette I’ll have a cigarette. But then I’m fine, I don’t feel the urge to keep going.” (30 year old man) |
When switching from one e-cigarette to another | “When I first started I quit smoking cigarettes for a good three or four months, I didn’t have a single cigarette. And then I don’t know what happened, I had the little one like that [e-cigarette], but it just wasn’t doing it for me, it wasn’t strong enough. So I switched to the bigger one. But in that time period before I switched to the bigger one, I started smoking cigarettes again.” (33 year old woman) |
Craving/stimulation
Activities
Places/situations
Other substances
E-cigarette substitute
Contexts of e-cigarette use
Contexts | Quotes |
---|---|
Activities | |
Before/during work out or physical activity | “I use e-cig when I am engaging in more healthful activities.” (26 year old woman) |
When working | “So it’s like when I’m working I can’t smoke a regular cigarette where I’m working at, so I can smoke this indoors. So when I’m not on break, and then when I’m on break, I switch.” (28 year old woman) |
Places/situations | |
At home/indoors, | “My family, they don’t smoke. So it’s basically if I want to smoke I have to smoke my e-cigarette and not a real cigarette, because I can’t smoke in the house. And of course I’m not going to go outside and smoke a real cigarette in the rain, because that’s not going to happen.” (28 year old man) |
When alone | “Sharing e-cig is kinda gross. I mostly use e-cig when I am alone.” (22 year old man) |
Inside a vehicle | “He went back to traditional cigarettes, and then he still uses his e-cig in his company van and stuff. Because he can’t smoke in there.” (26 year old woman) |
When there is no time to take a shower after “smoking” | “When I don’t want to have to shower right after—e-cigarettes I like because I can smoke it, when I’m not stressed out it takes the edge off, and then I don’t stink.” (30 year old woman) |
Tobacco substitute | |
When cigarette is not available | “Yeah when I don’t have cigarettes, I use my e-cig.” (24 year old man) |
When hookah is not available | “I like hokaah too. Because of the flavors. And e-cigs are like mini-hookah to me, without all the hassles of a hookah.” (23 year old woman) |
When smoking is not allowed | “But cigarettes still, they fight the edge or what not. I’m smoking these, like the Logics. These Logic things are like ten bucks and last, it’s supposed to be like a carton… not a carton, but a pack of cigarettes, something like that. I’ll smoke one of those, keep it in my pocket at all times, you know what I mean? If I’m on the bus, chilling in the mall somewhere, as soon as I get out and there’s fresh air and I can smoke a cigarette, guarantee that cigarette is coming out of my pocket” (35 year old man) |