Table 3:

Theme: Vaping is a way of fitting in.

Theme	Representative Quotes
Spread through peer interactions	‘Yeah, I borrowed one of theirs and just hit it a few times and I was like, "You know what, let's go to the vape shop."’ (Airman) ‘Say you go to a study session and one person there has a vape and he's like, "It helps me calm down," the next person uses it and then the whole class tries it. Maybe it affects two or three of them and they all go buy one.’ (Airman)
Socially accepted	‘I don’t know if my roommate cares, but she hasn't said anything, so I just walk around the room [vaping]…If my roommate cared, she would've said something by now.’ (Airman)
Part of the culture	‘Everyone that I heard coming out of tech school was like, "Oh, yeah, when you go into tech school, you'll come out vaping. It's just what everyone does."’ (Airman) ‘Everybody’s doing it. And just like oh, your friend’s doing it here. They’re easily peer pressured here… You have good Airmen that just don’t want to be alone anymore.’ (MTL)
The social thing to do	‘I went out there [designated tobacco use area] because we were just hanging out; I didn't go there to smoke. I brought my Juul but I wasn't going there just to do that.’ (Airman)

Note: MTL: Military Training Leader; TTI: Technical Training Instructor.