Table 2.
Leading Reasons for Noncigarette Tobacco Product Use Among Past 30-Day Tobacco Users, by Product–Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study Youth Respondents Aged 12–17 Years, 2013–2014 a,b
| Reasons for Use | % (95% CI) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e-Cigarettes (n = 418)c |
Any Cigars (n = 340)c,d |
Hookahs (n = 226)c |
Smokeless Tobacco (n = 180)c |
Snus Pouches (n = 64)c |
|
| I use [product] because they come in flavors I like | 81.5 (77.9–85.0) | 73.8 (68.2–79.4) | 78.9 (73.4–84.3) | 69.3 (62.6–76.0) | 67.2 (55.7–78.6) |
| I use [product] because they are affordable | 47.8 (42.9–52.6) | 58.2 (52.7–63.6) | 43.7 (36.5–51.0) | 60.6 (52.6–68.6) | 45.5 (32.1–58.8) |
| I use [product] because I can smoke/use them at times when or in places where smoking cigarettes isn’t allowed | 58.9 (54.1–63.7) | 10.9 (7.1–14.8) | 30.8 (24.1–37.5) | 69.7 (63.3–76.0) | 70.7 (58.7–82.7) |
| I use [product] because I like socializing while using them | 40.3 (34.9–45.8) | 57.0 (51.7–62.4) | 79.6 (74.6–84.5) | NA | NA |
| I use [product] because it doesn’t bother non-tobacco users | 53.9 (48.1–59.8) | NA | NA | 47.7 (40.4–55.0) | 50.4 (39.7–61.2) |
| I use [product] because they might be less harmful to me than cigarettes | 79.1 (75.2–83.0) | 29.9 (25.3–34.5) | 60.6 (53.9–67.3) | 51.4 (44.3–58.4) | 36.9 (24.3–49.6) |
| I use [product] because they might be less harmful to people around me than cigarettes | 78.1 (74.3–81.8) | NA | NA | 68.3 (62.1–74.6) | 51.4 (38.7–64.2) |
| I use [product] because they don’t smell | 58.7 (54.2–63.2) | NA | NA | 33.3 (27.4–39.1) | 34.2 (22.1–46.4) |
| I use [product] because they help people to quit smoking cigarettes | 59.5 (54.6–64.5) | 9.9 (6.6–13.2) | 24.2 (18.1–30.2) | 26.8 (21.2–32.5) | 25.1 (15.1–35.1) |
| I use [product] because people who are important to me use them | 34.9 (30.6–39.2) | 28.4 (23.5–33.2) | 35.9 (30.3–41.6) | 40.7 (32.9–48.6) | 28.8 (17.8–39.7) |
| I use [product] because people in the media or other public figures use them | 36.1 (31.5–40.7) | 30.7 (26.1–35.4) | 28.8 (22.7–35.0) | 27.4 (20.8–34.1) | 23.8 (13.2–34.5) |
Abbreviation: NA, not asked.
Past 30-day noncigarette tobacco users were asked to indicate (yes/no) whether particular reasons applied to their use of each specific product. A set of 14 items were asked of e-cigarette, smokeless tobacco, snus pouch, and dissolvable tobacco users; 10 were asked of cigar and hookah smokers; and a set of 9 were asked of pipe smokers and users of bidis and kreteks. Items can be accessed on the PATH Youth Baseline Questionnaire available in the eAppendix in the Supplement.
Individuals whose response was missing or responded “don’t know” to whether they used products in the past 30 days were excluded from the denominator, including n = 30 for e-cigarettes, n = 9 for cigars, n = 7 for hookahs, n = 13 for smokeless tobacco, and n = 2 for snus pouches. Estimates for pipe, dissolvable tobacco, bidi, and kretek users are not presented owing to small denominators of past 30-day users (n <50). Cited sample sizes reflect unweighted Ns.
Past 30-day users whose response was missing or who responded “don’t know” to any item regarding reasons for use were excluded from the denominator (range of missing for each item, by product: n = 0–5 for cigars, n = 0–4 for e-cigarettes and hookahs, n = 0–3 for smokeless tobacco, and n = 0–1 for snus pouches).
Questions regarding reasons for use were asked separately for past 30-day use of traditional cigar, cigarillo, and filtered cigar. Any respondents reporting past 30-day use of 2 or more types of cigars were asked to report on reasons for use for each type of cigar separately. Responses were aggregated so that if the reason was endorsed for any of the types of cigars, it was counted overall as a positive response.