Nicotine vaping for relaxation and coping: Race/ethnicity differences and social connectedness mechanisms

The current study examined race- and ethnicity-based differences in the reasons that youth report for vaping, with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between race/ethnicity and vaping for relaxation and stress/anxiety coping. This work also sought to go beyond examining race-based differences as a cause of tobacco-use disparities by assessing social connectedness factors that mediate relationships between race/ethnicity and vaping for relaxation and coping. Research questions were tested using data from the 2019-2020 California Student Tobacco Survey, a representative school-based survey of 10th and 12th grade public school students throughout schools in California. Overall, 7.78% of the sample reported using nicotine vapes in the past 30 days. The final sample included 11,112 high school student current vape users. The most important reason that youth vaped was for relaxation and stress/anxiety coping, with racial and ethnic minorities most likely to report this vaping motivation. Analyses of the structural mechanisms underlying the relationship between race/ethnicity and vaping reasons showed that minority youth reported lower school, peer, and family connectedness when compared to White youth. Lower school and family connectedness were in turn correlated with being motivated to vape to relax or relieve stress and anxiety, and lower overall mental health. Findings imply that future intervention efforts might profitably focus on reducing stressors associated with relaxation and stress/anxiety coping motivations and highlight the importance of connectedness for indirectly decreasing vape use risk by improving negative mood and mental health.