Psychoactive Comfort Products or Snacks: How Chinese Young Adults Perceive the Potentially Addictive Nature of E-Cigarettes

The potential health value and pitfalls of e-cigarettes are currently under dispute in the scientific community. Exploring young adult e-cigarette users’ perceptions would assist in adding a public dimension of understanding to the literature and in scientific public health decision making. Therefore, in this study, we collected and analyzed data from interviews with young adult (n = 14) e-cigarette users and found that many referred to e-cigarettes as “snacks,” indicating that they considered that both their frequency of use and addiction were manageable and that they could stop using e-cigarettes at any time. To further understand the behavior of Chinese young adults in relation to their perception of e-cigarettes as a “snack”, the study developed a social context framework (crossroads model) and psychological judgment model to explain how youth e-cigarette users’ perception of “controlled addiction and ready cessation” arises. These models can be used to assess the effectiveness of e-cigarette policy.