Affective Vulnerability Across Non-Daily and Daily Electronic Cigarette Users

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has risen exponentially since its initial introduction. The widespread and growing use of these novel products has prompted increased research to evaluate use from a nuanced perspective that considers patterns and antecedents of use. Specifically, research has identified sociodemographic characteristics related to varying levels of e-cigarette use frequency. Yet, limited research has investigated broad-based psychological factors related to frequent and infrequent e-cigarette use. The current study sought to address this clinically relevant research gap within a cross sectional design. Several affective vulnerability states were evaluated, including anxiety sensitivity, anxious arousal, general distress, and anhedonia across 566 (51% female, Mage = 35.11 years, SD = 10.12) non-daily and daily past month, adult e-cigarette users. Results demonstrated that in comparison to non-daily e-cigarette users, daily users evinced significantly higher levels of anxiety sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity cognitive concerns, anxious arousal, and general distress. No significant differences were found for the criterion variables of anxiety sensitivity social concerns, anxiety sensitivity physical concerns, and anhedonic depression. Overall, the current study provides initial and novel empirical evidence that certain affective vulnerability constructs related to anxiety may be more strongly endorsed by daily e-cigarette users. Importantly, this work adds to evolving, but thus far highly underdeveloped, e-cigarette models by highlighting the need to consider anxiety-related constructs when evaluating e-cigarette use patterns and behavior.