Development and validation of a reasons for electronic cigarette use questionnaire.

People use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) for many reasons, but currently there are no comprehensive assessments of the motivations for tobacco vaping. The aim of the present study is to develop and test the initial construct validity of a new measure to assess reasons for e-cigarette use. We developed a 56-item measure based on the e-cigarette literature. This measure, along with demographic and tobacco use questions, was administered to adults who self-identified as past or present e-cigarette users on the Prolific crowdsourcing platform. The sample (n = 965) was randomly assigned into two analytic groups for exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 484) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 481). The sample ranged from 19 to 77 (M = 36.6; SD = 11.5) years old, and 42.2% identified as women, 74.6% as White, 7.2% as African American, 4.7% as Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5.1% Hispanic/Latino. After removing highly correlated items and nonloading items on the EFA, the 56-item scale was reduced to 47 items across eight factors. The eight subscales assessing various motivation domains of e-cigarette use included social influence, alternative to cigarettes, pleasurable effects, harm reduction, dependence, cessation, weight/appetite, and smell/flavor domains. Cronbach's α coefficients and preliminary analyses of differential motivation based on sex, age, and daily smoker status are presented. This study demonstrates the construct validity for the first comprehensive measure tested to assess reasons for e-cigarette use. This measure has potential to become a valuable assessment for researchers examining factors contributing to tobacco vaping among a variety of populations and settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Response to health warnings on cigarette packs as a predictor of future smoking among current tobacco smokers.

The United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires health warning labels on all cigarette packages as part of a campaign to reduce tobacco smoking. Prior research has revealed the mixed effectiveness of these health warning labels. The present study used nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Population Study of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study to assess whether reported reactions to health warning labels on cigarette packs predict smoking frequency and smoking cessation two years later. We hypothesized that individuals who reported strong reactions to health warnings at Wave 1 of the PATH Study would engage in less frequent smoking behavior and would be more likely to have completely quit cigarette smoking two years later (Wave 3), compared with individuals who did not report strong reactions. Multinomial and binary logistic regressions were used to estimate the associations between attitudes toward health warning labels and later smoking frequency and smoking cessation. Our hypotheses were partially supported; results indicated that several attitudes toward health warnings predict later smoking behaviors. These findings indicate general effectiveness of health warning labels and support the FDA's initiative to require more attention-grabbing health warning labels on cigarette packs.