Adolescent and Young Adult Response to Hypothetical E-Liquid Flavor Restrictions

Rates of e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) remain high despite several federal policy changes intended to limit their availability and appeal. The current study examined how restricting flavors would affect current AYA users' intentions to discontinue vaping, as a function of their current flavor preference.

In a national cross-sectional survey, AYA e-cigarette users (N = 1,414) completed measures of e-cigarette use, device type, e-liquid flavor (tobacco, menthol, cool mint, fruit ice, fruit/sweet), and intent to discontinue e-cigarette use in response to hypothetical federal product standards (i.e., tobacco and menthol or tobacco-only e-liquid). Logistic regression was used to model the association of preferred flavor with odds of discontinuing e-cigarette use (vs. continuing), for menthol and tobacco hypothetical product standards.

Overall, 38.8% of the sample reported intent to discontinue using their e-cigarette if tobacco and menthol-flavored e-liquid were the only options available, whereas 70.8% would discontinue under a tobacco-only product standard. AYAs preferring fruit/sweet flavor were most sensitive to either restricted scenario, with odds of discontinuing use ranging from adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.22 to aOR = 2.38 under a tobacco and menthol product standard and aOR = 1.33 to aOR = 2.59 under a tobacco-only product standard, compared with other flavor preferences. In addition, AYAs using cooling flavors (e.g., fruit ice) reported higher odds of discontinuing use under a tobacco-only product standard, compared with menthol flavor users, indicating an important distinction between these groups.

Results indicate potential for flavor restrictions to reduce use of e-cigarettes among AYAs and suggest that a tobacco flavor product standard may result in the greatest discontinuation of use.