Associations among Smoking, Vaping, Psychopathology, and Identity
Abstract
Although there has been progress in trying to decrease the use of cigarette smoking, a new method of smoking has evolved which is rapidly increasing, namely vaping. Adolescents who participate in smoking are more likely to increase smoking frequency if they believed that it is self-defining (“I smoke cigarettes” versus “I am a smoker”). While there has been evidence to support the claim that internal motives for smoking are correlated with smoker identity development, there has been none, to our knowledge, found for vaping identity. Due to the similarities of smoking and vaping, it is important to discover whether those who vape also have an identity similar to those who smoke. In other words, with vaping being a new technology, do users identify themselves as “I am a vaper” or “I vape e-cigarettes”? The way in which users identify themselves may have important implications for intervention efforts. Further, smoking is a type of substance abuse, and substance abuse, primarily alcohol, has been linked to identity status, identity distress, and psychopathology. Smoking has been linked to alcohol use and abuse, but it is unclear if smoking is related to similar identity and adjustment variables, particularly internalizing symptoms, in the same way as alcohol use. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the associations between smoking, vaping, identity, and psychopathology. Using college student participants (N = 303) who completed anonymous online surveys for course…
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