Factors Associated with Former and Current E-Cigarette Use Among Lifetime Cigarette-Smoking College Students

Concurrent electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) and cigarette use has been rising among college students. Thus, we investigated the following aims in a sample of 533 Korean college students: (a) characteristics of cigarette consumption in three e-cigarette use groups, (b) perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes and the greatest reason for e-cigarette use (EU), and (c) factors associated with EU among lifetime cigarette smokers. We conducted descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Fisher’s exact test, and multinomial logistic regression. EU was significantly associated with lifetime and past 30-day cigarette smoking and the number of cigarette-smoking days and cigarettes smoked. Most e-cigarette users considered e-cigarettes as less harmful. Main reasons for EU were no smell, lower harm, and feasibility to use in non-smoking areas. Finally, EU among lifetime cigarette smokers was strongly associated with male sex, younger age, and greater numbers of cigarette-smoking days. Anti-smoking education and anti-smoking regulations should be systematically implemented on campus.