Prevalence, perceived effects, and motivations for adolescent e-cigarette use: A cross-sectional study in the Paris region

Anne-Laurence Le Faou. Outpatient Addictology Center, Georges Pompidou European Hospital, AP-HP, Centre-Université Paris Cité, 20 Rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France

Tob. Prev. Cessation 2026;12(July):49

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18332/tpc/225318

Article (PDF)

References (27)

KEYWORDS

electronic cigarettes

TOPICS

ABSTRACT

Introduction:
Adolescence is a critical period for experimentation with psychoactive substances, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). This study aimed to assess the prevalence of e-cigarette use among high school students in Paris and to explore adolescents’ motivations for use and their perceptions of its effects.

Methods:
This cross-sectional study, based on self-reported data collected through an online questionnaire, was conducted between January and April 2021 among students from six educational institutions in the Paris region. The anonymized survey collected demographic and health data, information on tobacco and e-cigarette use behaviors, and perceptions and motivations related to e-cigarette use. Associations between the social environment and tobacco and e-cigarette experimentation were evaluated using prevalence ratios, crude odds ratios (ORs), and adjusted ORs (AORs), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results:
A total of 1187 students participated (median age: 17 years; 55.5% male). E-cigarette experimentation was reported by 46.8%, current use by 18.9%, and daily use by 8.6%. The mean age at e-cigarette initiation was 14.9±1.9 years. Dual experimentation with tobacco and e-cigarettes was observed in 39.2% of participants, while 5.2% reported exclusive e-cigarette use. Curiosity was the most frequently reported motivation for e-cigarette ever users (91.4%), followed by flavor variety (75.0%), and the ability to use e-cigarettes at home without tobacco odor (63.6%). Exposure to e-cigarette use among friends was strongly associated with e-cigarette experimentation (AOR=3.68; 95% CI: 2.88–4.73). Notably, 23.4% of all respondents and 12.3% of e-cigarette ever users were unaware whether e-liquids contained nicotine. Most e-cigarette users expressed concerns about lung health (85.2%) and addiction risk (75.5%).

Conclusions:
E-cigarette use is prevalent among adolescents in the Paris region and is driven by curiosity, sensory appeal, and social influences. Additional studies, particularly longitudinal cohort studies, are needed to provide evidence-based information on tobacco and e-cigarette use trajectories among adolescents.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the staff and students of the apprenticeship training center (Construction and Civil Engineering) in Rueil-Malmaison, as well as those from the secondary schools Gustave Eiffel, Le Garac, Paul Langevin, Richelieu, and La Salle Passy Buzenval. We would also like to thank Thomas Rohban and Magalie El Hajj from Partner 4 Health (Paris, France), for providing medical writing support in accordance with current Good Publication Practice guidelines.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors have each completed and submitted an ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. A. L. Le Faou reports that in the past 36 months she received honoraria for lectures, one in 2024 from AstraZeneca and one in 2025 from Sanofi.

FUNDING

There was no source of funding for this research.

ETHICAL APPROVAL AND INFORMED CONSENT

Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Université Paris Cité (Approval number: 2020-92; Date: 15 December 2020) in accordance with the requirements of the Jardé Act. A data privacy declaration was submitted to the French Data Protection Authority (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) on 6 January 2021. Participants provided informed consent.

DATA AVAILABILITY

The data supporting this research are available from the authors on reasonable request.

AUTHORS' CONTRIBUTIONS

MG: conceptualization, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, project administration, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing. ALLF: conceptualization, formal analysis, project administration, supervision, validation, visualization, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

PROVENANCE AND PEER REVIEW

Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

REFERENCES (27)

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