The Association Between E-Cigarette Use Among Adolescent Never Cigarette Smokers and Subsequent Cigarette Smoking

This study demonstrates that when controlling for more potential covariates, the strong and positive relationship between vaping by adolescent never smokers and subsequent trial of cigarettes decreases steadily. Using longitudinal data from PATH on U.S. adolescents, ours is the first study to control for both use of other tobacco products and other drugs (marijuana and alcohol in our case), along with commonly included variables. Using earlier waves of PATH data, we report reduced associations between vaping and subsequent smoking, adjusting for these covariates. This association became non-significant when we analyzed the two most recent waves of PATH, wave 4 and wave 4.5. Our study provides empirical evidence that raises questions about the strength of the relationship between youth vaping and subsequent trial of cigarettes.