Willingness to try electronic cigarettes among UK adolescents

Purpose: To investigate factors that lead to willingness to try electronic cigarettes among UK adolescents.

Methods: A sample of 16- to 19-year-old pupils (N = 256) completed a questionnaire.

Results: Smoking status significantly predicted more than one-third of the variance of willingness to try an electronic cigarette and a further 7.8% was significantly predicted by a positive prototype of a smoker (e.g., stylish) and a negative prototype of an electronic cigarette user (e.g., unattractive). Moreover, tobacco-flavored electronic cigarettes were less favorable than alternative flavors such as fruit, chocolate, and mint.

Conclusions: Findings provide evidence that flavored electronic cigarettes are more appealing to all; adolescents, smokers, non-smokers, current and past electronic cigarette users, and never users.