Intention to quit electronic cigarette smoking among university students who are e-cigarette users

Abstract

Objective

To identify factors that are significantly associated with the intention to quit electronic cigarette smoking (ECS) at multiple, ecological levels among university students.

Participants

365 students who were e-cigarette users from Seoul metropolitan areas, South Korea.

Methods

A cross-sectional study through an online survey.

Results

Of participants, 62.7% had the intention to quit ECS—17.2% within one month, 14.0% within six months, and 31.5% when the time is right. Factors significantly associated with the intention to quit ECS were identified: “device type,” “a shorter duration of ECS,” and “having started ECS for quitting traditional cigarette smoking” at the intrapersonal-level; “negative attitudes of either peers or family members toward ECS” at the interpersonal-level; and “exposure to community smoking cessation educations” at the community-level.

Conclusions

Approximately one-thirds of university e-cigarette users had no intention to quit ECS. The factors identified should be integrated into university level, behavioral smoking cessation strategies.

Keywords:

• Electronic nicotine delivery systems
• intention
• smoking cessation
• universities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants in the study and several scholars (Dr. Sooyeon Park, Dr. Ah Hyeon Park, Dr. Jinhee Na) who gave opinions on the components of the questionnaire.

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 South Korea and received approval from the Institutional review board of Korea University.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. NRF-2019R1A2C1004116).