Primed for positive perceptions? Applying the acquired preparedness model to explain college students’ e-cigarette use and dependence

Abstract

Objective

College students use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) more often than any other US demographic group. In a novel application of the acquired preparedness model, we examined how proximal (e.g., cognitions) and distal (e.g., dispositional) influences accounted for ENDS use and dependence.

Participants

Undergraduates (N = 1075; 72% female, 74% White) from seven US campuses completed an online survey between October 2019-March 2020.

Methods

We modeled ENDS use and dependence, respectively, as zero-inflated Poisson distributions with impulsivity as an independent variable and perceived risks and benefits of e-cigarettes as mediators.

Results

Students higher in impulsivity perceived more benefits and, in turn, reported greater ENDS use and dependence. Curiosity and friends’ use motivated ENDS initiation; stress management and nicotine motivated continued use.

Conclusions

ENDS interventions should be tailored to students higher in impulsivity, as they hold more favorable perceptions of ENDS, and should enhance skills to manage stress and nicotine cravings.

Keywords:

• Acquired preparedness
• e-cigarettes
• e-cigarette dependence
• expectancies
• impulsivity

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jeremiah Weinstock, Maria Meinerding, Jessica Irons, Chelsie Young, Amber Henslee, Craig Henderson, and Carolyn Najarian for their assistance with recruitment, data collection, and data management.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board at St. Louis University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Notes

1 Given that 34% of participants reporting past 30-day ENDS use also reported past 30-day combustible cigarette use, we examined models predicting ENDS benefits, ENDS risks, and ENDS frequency that included past 30-day combustible cigarette use as a covariate. Although combustible cigarette use was significantly and positively associated with ENDS benefits and ENDS frequency, the addition of this variable did not attenuate any of the significant associations in these models, suggesting that the effect of impulsivity on ENDS use was not confounded by cigarette use.