Teah Grace E, Conner Tamlin S
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 17;12:659206. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.659206. eCollection 2021.
The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), also known as vaping, is becoming popular among young adults. Few studies have explored the psychological factors that predict ENDS use and susceptibility in young adults, in addition to known demographic predictors.
In a cross-sectional survey design, 521 young adults (37% male), ages 18-25 from the United States, were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in 2019, to answer an online survey measuring demographic characteristics and psychological characteristics related to mental health and the Big Five personality traits. The survey also included measures of ENDS ever-use, current use, and susceptibility (never users open to trying ENDS), which we predicted from the demographic and psychological measures using independent and multiple binary logistic regression analyses.
Of those surveyed ( = 521), 282 (54.1%) were ENDS ever-users, 93 (17.9%) were current ENDS users, and 61 (11.7%) were ENDS susceptible; 62 (11.9%) were current smokers. Demographically, young adults lower in adulthood socioeconomic-status (SES), not pursuing education further than high school, and current smokers were more likely to be ENDS users. Psychologically, young adults higher in anxiety and lower in conscientiousness more likely to have ever-used ENDS. Lower conscientiousness further predicted current ENDS use and ENDS susceptibility.
In this sample of MTurk workers, young adults with experience in vaping were more demographically and psychologically vulnerable than young adults with no experience in vaping. Young adults interested in vaping, but without prior experience, were less conscientious than their non-interested peers. Interventions to target vaping use should focus on economically disadvantaged young adults and those lower in conscientiousness.
电子尼古丁传送系统（ENDS）的使用，也就是吸电子烟，在年轻人中越来越流行。除了已知的人口统计学预测因素外，很少有研究探讨预测年轻人使用ENDS及易感性的心理因素。
在一项横断面调查设计中，2019年通过亚马逊的土耳其机器人（MTurk）招募了521名年龄在18 - 25岁之间的美国年轻人（37%为男性），让他们回答一项在线调查，该调查测量了与心理健康和大五人格特质相关的人口统计学特征和心理特征。该调查还包括对ENDS曾经使用、当前使用和易感性（从未使用过但愿意尝试ENDS的人）的测量，我们使用独立和多元二元逻辑回归分析从人口统计学和心理测量指标中预测这些情况。
在接受调查的521人中，282人（54.1%）曾经使用过ENDS，93人（17.9%）为当前ENDS使用者，61人（11.7%）对ENDS易感；62人（11.9%）为当前吸烟者。在人口统计学方面，成年后社会经济地位（SES）较低、没有接受过高中以上教育以及当前吸烟者更有可能成为ENDS使用者。在心理方面，焦虑程度较高且尽责性较低的年轻人更有可能曾经使用过ENDS。较低的尽责性进一步预测了当前ENDS的使用和对ENDS的易感性。
在这个MTurk工人样本中，有吸电子烟经历的年轻人在人口统计学和心理方面比没有吸电子烟经历的年轻人更脆弱。对吸电子烟感兴趣但没有先前经验的年轻人比不感兴趣的同龄人尽责性更低。针对吸电子烟使用的干预措施应侧重于经济上处于不利地位的年轻人和尽责性较低的人。
