Sources of electronic cigarette acquisition among adolescents in Connecticut

Objectives: We examined sources of e-cigarette acquisition among youth, and changes in these sources, between 2014 and 2015. We also assessed whether youth were ever refused the sale of e-cigarettes.

Methods: Anonymous, cross-sectional surveys conducted in five high schools in 2014 and 2015 in Connecticut assessed demographics, e-cigarette and cigarette use, and e-cigarette acquisition sources (friends/boyfriends/girlfriends, tobacco shops, siblings, online, parents/adult family members, other). We restricted analyses to adolescents younger than 18 years old who had used e-cigarettes in the past month (2014: N = 400, 2015: N = 390).

Results: Top sources of e-cigarette acquisition were friends (2014: 50.2%, 2015: 45.4%), tobacco shops (2014: 17.5%, 2015: 12.6%), and online shops (2014: 9.8%, 2015: 10.5%). A multilevel model, controlling for sex, age, and cigarette smoking status, while clustering by schools showed a decrease in the proportion of youth obtaining e-cigarettes from friends (AOR = .84) between 2014 and 2015. In 2015, 69.8% and 85.8% purchased e-cigarettes from a physical store and an online store, respectively.

Conclusions: Peers were the most popular source of e-cigarette acquisition. Many adolescents were able to purchase e-cigarettes from commercial sources. Future studies should continue to conduct surveillance of where adolescents obtain e-cigarettes to inform prevention strategies.