Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

McMillen, Robert

Committee Member

Porter, Bennett

Committee Member

Armstrong, Kevin

Date of Degree

12-12-2025

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Applied Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Previous research has linked initiation of e-cigarette use with mental health but has not identified how mental health factors impact patterns of use of these products in adolescents. I tested the hypothesis that adolescents who report vaping to cope with stress, depression, and anxiety have more established patterns of use with data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Crosstabulations and logistic regression outcome measures included current use, intensity of use, and cumulative lifetime use. Reasons for initial and current use related to mental health were associated with current e-cigarette use, more intense use, and higher cumulative use. Mental health plays a significant role in higher levels of established e-cigarette use and increased risk of dependence. Due to the temporal limitations of this cross-sectional data, future experimental research is needed to determine directionality of the relationship between e- cigarette usage and mental health.

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