Table 1.
Sample Characteristics by E-Cigarette Use and Percent who Agree with Health Risk Perceptions
| Characteristic | Overall n (%) |
E-cigarette use increases risk of COVID-19 because it affects lungs n (%) |
Young people are at risk of respiratory problems due to e-cigarette use n (%) |
No evidence e-cigarette use increases risk of lung disease n (%) |
E-cigarette use is safer than smoking cigarettes n (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | |||||
| 13 — 17 years | 1,442 (33.4) | 1,043 (34.4) | 1,277 (34.5) | 385 (30.9) | 669 (33.2) |
| 18—21 years | 1,810 (41.9) | 1,280 (42.2) | 1,547 (41.8) | 526 (42.3) | 867 (43.1) |
| 22—24 years | 1,063 (24.6) | 713 (23.5) | 875 (23.7) | 333 (26.8) | 477 (23.7) |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 1,402 (32.5) | 888 (29.1) | 1,120 (30.3) | 499 (40.1) | 778 (38.6) |
| Female | 2,816 (65.3) | 2,090 (68.8) | 2,502 (67.6) | 707 (56.9) | 1,188 (59.0) |
| Other | 96 (2.2) | 64 (2.1) | 77 (2.1) | 37 (3.0) | 47 (2.3) |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 2,590 (60.0) | 1,918 (63.2) | 2,315 (62.6) | 625 (50.2) | 1,204 (59.8) |
| Non-Hispanic African | 598 (13.9) | 366 (12.1) | 470 (12.7) | 221 (17.8) | 266 (13.2) |
| American/Black | |||||
| Hispanic | 749 (17.4) | 490 (16.1) | 596 (16.1) | 271 (21.8) | 340 (16.9) |
| Non-Hispanic other | 378 (8.8) | 262 (8.6) | 318 (8.6) | 127 (10.2) | 203 (10.1) |
| Mother’s level of education | |||||
| High school or less | 986 (22.9) | 663 (21.9) | 803 (21.8) | 313 (25.3) | 441 (21.9) |
| Some college | 601 (13.9) | 383 (12.7) | 494 (13.4) | 170 (13.7) | 274 (13.6) |
| College degree | 1,420 (32.9) | 1,072 (35.4) | 1,280 (34.7) | 367 (29.6) | 682 (33.9) |
| Graduate degree | 883 (20.5) | 637 (21.1) | 765 (20.7) | 259 (20.9) | 429 (21.3) |
| Unknown | 408 (9.5) | 271 (9.0) | 345 (9.4) | 130 (10.5) | 184 (9.2) |
Note. N = 4,315. COVID-19 = Coronavirus Disease 2019. The four columns from the right indicate the count and percentage of participants agreeing with different health risk perceptions related to e-cigarette use. Participants rated items on a 4-point Likert-type scale, on which 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree. We then collapsed and coded responses as follows: strongly disagree/disagree (1) and agree/strongly agree (2).