Adolescents' Nicotine/Tobacco Dependency Symptoms Using 4 Waves of PATH Data

We aimed to characterize male and female adolescents' use of e-cigarettes, cigarettes and dual use, and seven symptoms of nicotine/tobacco dependence using four waves of national data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.

The analytic sample included 2902 adolescents 12-17 years who indicated past 30-day e-cigarette or cigarette use at least once between 2013-2018. Items from the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68) were used to report dependence symptoms.

Compared to cigarette users, exclusive e-cigarette users reported fewer symptoms of nicotine dependency. There were no differences between males and females and the odds of any reported dependency symptom. Among cigarette only users, the odds of indicating that their tobacco use helps them think better (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08, 5.23) and wanting tobacco after waking up (AOR = 5.50, 95% CI = 1.10, 27.5) was higher among females when compared to males.

The current study extends earlier findings regarding subgroup differences in nicotine/tobacco dependency symptoms participating in the PATH Study and highlights the importance of identifying nicotine/tobacco dependency symptoms when counseling adolescent males and females.