Psychosocial predictors of trajectories of dual cigarette and e-cigarette use among young adults in the US

Introduction: Young adults have the highest prevalence of cigarette and e-cigarette use, warranting research to identify psychosocial correlates of their use trajectories.

Methods: Repeated measures latent profile analyses (RMLPAs) examined past 6-month cigarette and e-cigarette trajectories across 5 waves of data (2018-2020) among 3,006 young adults (M_age = 24.56 [SD = 4.72], 54.8% female, 31.6% sexual minority, 60.2% racial/ethnic minority). Multinomial logistic regression models examined associations among psychosocial factors (i.e., depressive symptoms, adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], personality traits) and trajectories of cigarette and e-cigarette use, controlling for sociodemographics and past 6-month alcohol and cannabis use.

Results: RMLPAs yielded a 6-profile solution, which were uniquely associated with predictors: stable low-level or nonusers of cigarettes and e-cigarettes (66.3%; referent group), stable low-level cigarette and high-level e-cigarette use (12.3%; greater depressive symptoms, ACEs, openness; male, White, cannabis use), stable mid-level cigarette and low-level e-cigarette use (6.2%; greater depressive symptoms, ACEs, extraversion; less openness, conscientiousness; older age, male, Black or Hispanic, cannabis use), stable low-level cigarette and decreasing e-cigarette use (6.0%; greater depressive symptoms, ACEs, openness; younger age, cannabis use), stable high-level cigarette and low-level e-cigarette use (4.7%; greater depressive symptoms, ACEs, extraversion; older age, cannabis use), and decreasing high-level cigarette and stable high-level e-cigarette use (4.5%; greater depressive symptoms, ACEs, extraversion, less conscientiousness; older age, cannabis use).

Conclusions: Cigarette and e-cigarette prevention and cessation efforts should be targeted both toward specific trajectories of use and their unique psychosocial correlates.