Is Adolescent Poly-tobacco Use Associated with Alcohol and Other Drug Use?

To examine associations between current multiple tobacco product use, and current use of alcohol and marijuana, binge drinking, and lifetime use of marijuana, alcohol, and other drugs among US high school students.

Using 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (N = 13,583 high school students), logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine if single tobacco product or multiple tobacco product users are more likely to engage in other risk behaviors than zero tobacco product users, controlling for demographic variables.

Overall, 23% of the sample used tobacco products and 10% of students reported current use of at least 2 tobacco products. Among single tobacco product users, the odds for engaging in risk behaviors ranged from 3.3 to 9.9 compared to non-tobacco users (p < .0001). Among multiple tobacco product users, the odds ranged from 1.5 to 4.7 (p < .01) compared to single tobacco product users.

Results suggest dual users are significantly more likely to engage in risk behavior than non-users and single product users. Future interventions should consider identifying dual-users as at higher risk, and targeting multiple risk behaviors.