Teenagers Find Smoking E-Cigs More Appealing Than Regular Cigarettes

According to a new study published in the journal of Pediatrics, young people who wouldn't smoke regular cigarettes, might be prone to pick up the habit from smoking e-cigs, Time reported.

In the study, 1,941 high school students from Hawaii were asked questions about their smoking behaviors. The researchers also assessed their relative risk for picking up the habit by examining factors such as parent support, academic involvement, prevalence of smoking among peers, and sensation-seeking behavior.

The study showed that 17% of the Hawaiian high schoolers smoked e-cigs, while 12% smoked both regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Only 3% of those teenagers were conventional cigarette smokers. The remaining 68% reported that they weren't smoking either regular or electronic ones.

The research suggests that e-cigarettes might increase the number of teenagers who get addicted to nicotine even if they were avoiding regular cigarettes. The authors of the study said, "The fact that e-cigarette only users were intermediate in risk status between nonusers and dual users raised the possibility that e-cigarettes are recruiting medium-risk adolescents, who otherwise would be less susceptible to tobacco product use," according to Times.

The majority of adults who use e-cigs are already conventional smokers. Some even use the e-cigarettes as an aid to quit the habit, and some use them as a convenient way of smoking indoors where it's not allowed, especially in public. In that sense, e-cigs don't typically turn non-smoker adults into smokers. Whereas in the case of teenagers who are at a vulnerable time of their lives, especially in picking up habits, e-cis could attract non-smoker teens and easily convert them into smokers.

The authors of the study believe that the general perception of e-cigs being healthier than regular cigarettes, and the attraction of teens to "cool" looking e-cigs that come in appealing designs and colors, could be attributed to the heavy marketing of such products in public places, even on TV commercials.