The effect of adverse childhood experiences on e-cigarette usage in people aged 18–30 in the US

Recently, e-cigarette usage has been increasing rapidly. Previous research has found that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are correlated to cigarette usage. However, there is limited data exploring if ACEs affect vaping. Therefore, in this work, we investigated the effects of ACEs on e-cigarette usage. More specifically, we investigated the effects of different types of ACEs, as well as education on vaping risks and exposure to vaping in the household on the likelihood of e-cigarette usage. We hypothesized that witnessing vaping in the household and facing ACEs such as loss of a parent and violence or substance abuse in the household or neighborhood would independently increase e-cigarette usage, and an education on the dangers of vaping would decrease e-cigarette usage. Seventy-four participants of all genders, ages 18–30, from the USA completed a nine question survey. Participants answered questions about basic background information, ACEs, and vaping habits. We found that 92.00% of respondents who never faced an ACE have never used an e-cigarette. 93.33% of respondents who have never been exposed to vaping in the household also have never used an e-cigarette. 61.92% of respondents who have been educated on the dangers of vaping never used e-cigarettes. Our results indicate that being educated on the dangers of vaping had no effect on e-cigarette usage. Experiencing ACEs or witnessing use of e-cigarettes in the household was associated with an increased use of e-cigarettes. As hypothesized, we found that different types of ACEs had different correlations with e-cigarette usage. Further research is recommended to determine the significance of the type of ACE in terms of e-cigarette usage risk.