What influences adolescents to continuously use e‐cigarettes?

Objective: The use of e‐cigarettes is rapidly increasing in adolescents. Health care providers pay attention to e‐cigarette users because of the risk of developing addiction and problematic behavior. Based on ecological perspective, this study investigated factors influencing continued e‐cigarette use. Methods: We classified 1556 current e‐cigarette users into experimental and continued users using the Korean national representative data. Data were analyzed using the chi‐square test and logistic regression based on a complex sample analysis. Results: Among current e‐cigarette users, 55.1% were continued users. Adolescents who use e‐cigarettes because of the belief that they are less harmful than cigarettes, concealment, easy purchase, and adding various flavors had a high risk of continued use. Continued users were more likely to have a higher weekly allowance, lower rate of living with family, and higher chance of smoking parents and exposure to passive smoking at home. Conclusions: Continued e‐cigarette use was influenced by interpersonal and environmental factors, such as ease of purchase and addition of flavoring substances. Improving the environment of adolescents can prevent continued use of e‐cigarettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]