Reactions to vaping cessation messaging and strategies among US young adults who use e-cigarettes

Despite high rates of young adult e-cigarette use, research informing cessation interventions for this population, including those unready to quit, is limited.

We analyzed 2022 cross-sectional survey data (from a larger longitudinal study) among 172 US young adult, past-month e-cigarette users (mean age=26.95 years; 57.6% female; 73.3% White). We examined: 1) perceived challenges to quitting e-cigarettes; 2) perceived impact of intervention messages targeting motivation and confidence, and their associations with quitting importance and confidence; and 3) poly-use with cigarettes and/or cannabis in relation to poly-product cessation preferences.

In all, 43.6% reported past-year e-cigarette quit attempts, and 55.3% reported quit readiness; 30.2% reported past-month poly-use with cigarettes, and 54.1% with cannabis. Frequently endorsed challenges to quitting/cutting down were related to stress/anxiety (41.9%), delaying cessation attempts (35.5%), and boredom (25.6%). Messages targeting motivation perceived as most impactful (scale: 1 = 'no impact at all' to 7 = 'a lot of impact') were related to saving money (mean score=4.78), improving health (mean score=4.15), and avoiding toxic chemicals (mean score=4.04), messages targeting confidence perceived as most impactful were related to patience (mean score=4.47), staying busy (mean score=4.27), and soliciting support (mean score=3.84). Perceiving greater impact of messages targeting motivation was associated with greater quitting importance (B=1.16; 95% CI: 0.71-1.60, p<0.001). Neither perceived impact of messages targeting motivation nor confidence were related to quitting confidence. E-cigarette-cannabis poly-users preferred to quit cigarettes first, e-cigarette-cigarette users preferred to quit cannabis first, and poly-users of all three products preferred to quit e-cigarettes first, followed by cigarettes, then cannabis.

E-cigarette cessation interventions must use relevant messages (e.g. target financial and health benefits of quitting) and consider poly-users' preferences for quitting.