Young adults' intention to quit using JUUL

With research indicating some young audiences may desire to quit using JUUL, a high-nicotine e-cigarette, we sought to explore factors that may motivate them to quit.

This sequential, mixed methods study included a cross-sectional online survey of college students (n = 631) followed by in-person interviews (n = 51) with survey participants. Data were collected March-April 2019. The survey asked about intention to quit using JUUL. A latent class analysis (LCA) identified participant groups who would quit for various reasons. Participants were also asked 'Can you be too old to JUUL?' during the survey. During the interviews, participants were provided preliminary survey findings and asked about their perceptions of the data. Interview participants were also asked about their expectations for future use of JUUL.

Four classes emerged from the LCA, indicating costs to self (i.e., harm to lungs/brain, price; 46.8%), financial costs (36.6%), all costs (e.g., social, monetary, health; 9.3%), and harm to self (7.3%) may have influenced our sample's decision to quit using JUUL. Interviewees affirmed desires to quit using JUUL, especially after leaving college. Only 27.19% of survey participants reported an age threshold for using JUUL (M = 31.8 years, SD = 10.0); however, several interviewees explained that although someone could not be too old to JUUL, it would be 'immature' or 'childish' for adults who were not trying to quit smoking to use JUUL socially.

Comprehensive tobacco control strategies such as taxing e-cigarettes, marketing campaigns, and nicotine cessation programs are needed to help nicotine dependent young adults quit using high-nicotine e-cigarettes.