2020-2025

We know that abstaining from tobacco and nicotine use often results in withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, decreased concentration, anxiety, and feelings of depression. These negative feelings have been shown to be a deterrent for those trying to stop tobacco use. However, we know little about withdrawal symptoms in youth that use e-cigarettes and current measurement of withdrawal from e-cigarettes do not assess symptoms that may be especially relevant for young users, such as mood swings and impulsivity. Current measurements also do not account for the unique characteristics of e-cigarettes, such as flavors. To address these gaps in our understand of youth e-cigarette withdrawal, we plan to develop a new measure of youth e-cigarette withdrawal symptoms. We will develop this measure by conducting focus groups surveys with high school youth. We will also use information learned from our cessation trials (described above) to inform development of this measurement tool.