Teens Less Susceptible to Vaping When Restricted to Tobacco-Flavored E-cigarettes: Implications for Flavored Tobacco Policies

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Flavors added to tobacco products increase their appeal to youth and contribute to the youth vaping epidemic. To address this problem, over 340 localities have implemented various policies to restrict access to flavored tobacco products. Few studies have examined the extent to which restricting available e-cigarette flavors might affect e-cigarette initiation or cessation among youth. Aims and Methods A representative sample of Minnesota teens were asked about their use of e-cigarettes, symptoms of e-cigarette dependence and their willingness to use an e-cigarette under four flavor conditions: unspecified (any flavor); menthol, tobacco, or unflavored. Respondents with data on all four flavor conditions were included in the analysis (N = 2151). Results Cochran’s Q, McNemar, and exact binomial tests revealed that susceptibility to e-cigarette use was highest when the flavor was unspecified (38.2%), lower for unflavored (29.7%) and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes (26.7%), and lowest when the flavor was tobacco (21.0%). Among the subsets of students who had never tried e-cigarettes and students who reported signs of e-cigarette dependence, the largest decrease in susceptibility from unspecified flavor e-cigarettes was observed for tobacco-flavor, a decrease of 12.7 and 19.6 percentage points, respectively. Conclusions Whether teens had no experience using e-cigarettes or showed signs of dependence, the percentage of teens who were susceptible to using e-cigarettes was significantly lower when the flavor available was restricted. Susceptibility was lower for tobacco- and menthol-flavored than unflavored e-cigarettes, suggesting that teens consider these flavors aversive. Implications These results suggest that policies that eliminate all e-cigarette flavors except tobacco may be a powerful tool for advancing youth e-cigarette prevention and cessation goals by reducing the appeal of e-cigarettes to teens with different levels of experience with them, including teens who have never tried e-cigarettes and those who may find it difficult to quit using them.