Department of Psychology, Florida International University, USA; Center for Children and Families, Florida International University, USA; Research Center in Minority Institutions (RCMI), Florida International University, USA.
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, USA; Center for Children and Families, Florida International University, USA; Research Center in Minority Institutions (RCMI), Florida International University, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022 Jul 1;236:109500. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109500. Epub 2022 May 16.
Adolescent electronic cigarette use (e-cigarette) is a public health concern and factors associated with vaping remain to be understood. Childhood emotional abuse/neglect is a risk factor for e-cigarettes. Yet, pathways by which trauma impacts use remain unclear. Alexithymia (i.e., difficulties identifying and describing feelings) is one possible link. Indeed, emotional abuse/neglect leads to difficulties identifying and verbalizing emotions. This impairment may lead to distress and promote e-cigarette use as a coping strategy.
Using parallel mediation, this study examined the degree to which alexithymia, assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, mediates the link between emotional abuse/neglect, assessed using the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen, and e-cigarette use. The sample (n = 166) consisted of adolescents from a larger multi-wave study.
Emotional abuse/neglect predicted difficulty describing feelings (effect = 0.23, p = 0.001), which in turn predicted e-cigarette use (effect = 0.30, p = 0.004). Moreover, difficulty describing feelings mediated the link between emotional abuse/neglect and e-cigarette use (sum of indirect 95% CI [1.68, 16.48]). Difficulty identifying feelings was not a significant mediator and the externally-oriented thinking subscale was excluded due to low reliability.
As e-cigarettes are often used in social contexts, teens who experience difficulty describing feelings may vape as a means of connecting emotionally with others. Moreover, nicotine, found in most e-cigarettes, releases dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain modulating action, learning, and memory processes; plausibly, improving verbalization of emotions. Programming which identifies nuances in alexithymia among adolescents with emotional abuse/neglect could mitigate e-cigarette use or delay initiation.
青少年使用电子烟（e-cigarette）是一个公共卫生关注点，而与 vaping 相关的因素仍有待了解。儿童期情感虐待/忽视是电子烟使用的一个风险因素。然而，创伤影响使用的途径仍不清楚。述情障碍（即难以识别和描述感受）是一个可能的联系。事实上，情感虐待/忽视会导致难以识别和用言语表达情感。这种损伤可能会导致痛苦，并促使青少年使用电子烟作为应对策略。
本研究使用并行中介，考察了多伦多述情障碍量表评估的述情障碍在多大程度上中介了儿童和青少年创伤筛查评估的情感虐待/忽视与电子烟使用之间的关系。该样本（n=166）由一项更大的多波研究中的青少年组成。
情感虐待/忽视预测了难以描述感受（效应=0.23，p=0.001），而这又预测了电子烟使用（效应=0.30，p=0.004）。此外，难以描述感受中介了情感虐待/忽视和电子烟使用之间的联系（95%CI 的间接总和[1.68, 16.48]）。难以识别感受不是一个重要的中介，而外向思维分量表由于可靠性低而被排除在外。
由于电子烟通常在社交环境中使用，因此经历难以描述感受的青少年可能会吸食电子烟，以此作为与他人情感联系的一种方式。此外，大多数电子烟中含有的尼古丁会释放多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素，调节大脑的行动、学习和记忆过程；可能会改善情绪的表达。针对经历情感虐待/忽视的青少年述情障碍细微差别的编程可能会减轻电子烟的使用或延迟使用的开始。
