Latent Structure of Past 12-Month Tobacco Use in Wave 6 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health: Examining for Differential Substructure by Generational Status.

INTRODUCTION

Tobacco product usage patterns vary significantly across different segments of the population. Combustible tobacco product usage decreased from 19.3% to 12.5%, while electronic cigarette (ECIG) use rose from 1.8% to 3.7% for the US population from 2010 to 2020. However, age-specific estimates differ between younger and older adults. It is possible there are latent subpopulations within American adults.

METHOD

Data from Wave 6 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health survey (PATH,  = 30,516) were analyzed. Participants were classified as a member of Generation Z ( = 10,920), Millennials ( = 10,450), Generation X ( = 6122), or Baby Boomers ( = 3024) a 6-level ordinal variable collected by PATH. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified distinct groups based on 8 tobacco use variables.

RESULTS

Analysis suggests that a 4-class solution provides the optimal solution for the entire sample. These classes comprised of a low-use class, a high-use class, ECIG Plus (defined as ECIG use with less probability of other tobacco product use), and a conventional user class, defined as high probability on conventional tobacco products. A 4-class solution also provided optimal fit for each generation, though the classes were defined differently.

DISCUSSION

Understanding tobacco use patterns across different classes is crucial for public health interventions. The discovery of a possible class of social users among Generation Z and Millennials suggests that targeted interventions tailored to the social contexts and behaviors of younger generations may be effective while pharmacological treatments may be more efficacious for Baby Boomers.