Factors Associated With Victorian Adolescents' Harm Perceptions and Attitudes About e-Cigarettes
Abstract
Issue addressed: To explore Australian adolescents' perceptions of the risks and health harms associated with vaping and their attitudes towards e-cigarettes and examine if these vary by demographic and other factors.
Methods: Data were from a 2022-2023 cross-sectional, school-based survey of Victorian students aged 12-17 years (n = 1701 [weighted]; n = 1696 [unweighted]). Separate multivariable logistic regression models tested associations between agreement with each perception/attitude and predictors (age group, gender, area-based socio-economic status, vaping susceptibility, e-cigarette marketing exposure, peer vaping), controlling for education sector and school-level clustering.
Results: Most students (≥ 86%) agreed that vaping is harmful and addictive and that e-cigarettes contain harmful substances and nicotine, while agreement that breathing other people's e-cigarette vapour can affect your health was somewhat lower (69%). Perceptions of vaping harms tended to be stronger among females (vs. males) and weaker among past-month vapers (vs. non-susceptible, never-vapers). Overall, students held more negative than favourable attitudes towards e-cigarettes. However, vaping susceptibility, being of younger age and having a close friend that vapes were independently associated with having more favourable attitudes towards e-cigarettes (e.g., they look cool, make vaping look exciting). Further, past-month exposure to e-cigarette advertising was associated with students…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 1,701 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Tobacco and COPD: presenting the World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Knowledge Summary
- Comparative effects of e-cigarette smoking on periodontal status, salivary pH, and cotinine levels
- Association between exposure to environmental pollutants and increased oral health risks, a comprehensive review
- Influence of gestational window on offspring vascular health in rodents with in utero exposure to electronic cigarettes
- Natural products as kinase inhibitors in lung cancer: molecular mechanisms, therapeutic potential, and clinical trials
- Nicotine in electronic cigarettes
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.