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Exploring Associations Between Susceptibility to the Use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and E-Cigarette Use Among School-Going Adolescents in Rural Appalachia
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Hadii M. Mamudu, East Tennessee State University
  • Christen Nwabueze, East Tennessee State University
  • Florence M. Weierbach, East Tennessee State University
  • Joshua Yang, California State University, Fullerton
  • Antwan Jones, Milken Institute School of Public Health
  • Michelle McNabb, Tennessee Department of Health
  • Esther Adeniran, East Tennessee State University
  • Ying Liu, East Tennessee State University
  • Liang Wang, East Tennessee State University
  • Cynthia J. Blair, East Tennessee State University
  • Adeola Awujoola, East Tennessee State University
  • David L. Wood, Quillen-Dishner College of Medicine
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2-2020
Description

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use, including e-cigarettes, has surpassed the use of conventional tobacco products. Emerging research suggests that susceptibility to e-cigarette use is associated with actual use among adolescents. However, few studies exist involving adolescents in high-risk, rural, socioeconomically distressed environments. This study examines susceptibility to and subsequent usage in school-going adolescents in a rural distressed county in Appalachian Tennessee using data from an online survey (N = 399). Relying on bivariate analyses and logistic regression, this study finds that while 30.6% of adolescents are ever e-cigarette users, 15.5% are current users. Approximately one in three adolescents are susceptible to e-cigarettes use, and susceptibility is associated with lower odds of being a current e-cigarette user (OR = 0.03; CI: 0.01–0.12; p < 0.00). The age of tobacco use initiation was significantly associated with decreased current use of e-cigarettes (OR = 0.89; CI: 0.83–0.0.97; p < 0.01). Overall, the results of this exploratory study suggest the need for larger studies to identify unique and generalizable factors that predispose adolescents in this high-risk rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged region to ENDS use. Nevertheless, this study offers insight into e-cigarette usage among U.S adolescents in rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged environments and provides a foundation for a closer examination of this vulnerable population.

Copyright Statement

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Citation Information
Hadii M. Mamudu, Christen Nwabueze, Florence M. Weierbach, Joshua Yang, et al.. "Exploring Associations Between Susceptibility to the Use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and E-Cigarette Use Among School-Going Adolescents in Rural Appalachia" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 17 Iss. 14 (2020) p. 1 - 13 ISSN: 1661-7827
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/florence-weierbach/62/