Comorbidity between body dissatisfaction and nicotine vaping among young adults in college: a daily diary study

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate comorbidity between body dissatisfaction and nicotine vaping. Participants: Participants were 121 college students (M age = 20.51 years; 75.0% female; 75.2% White) who participated in a 14-day daily diary study. Methods: Logistic regression was used to test links between baseline trait body dissatisfaction and vaping frequency across 14 days. Multilevel logistic regression was used to test within-person, daily links between body dissatisfaction and nicotine vaping. Results: Each additional unit of trait body dissatisfaction increased the odds of frequent vaping by 33% (95% CI [1.00, 1.77]) and daily vaping by 54% (95% CI [1.10, 2.15]). Within-person, daily associations between body dissatisfaction and vaping were nonsignificant. Conclusions: Body dissatisfaction may increase college students’ risk for engaging in frequent nicotine vaping. However, daily changes in body dissatisfaction may not predict same- or next-day vaping. College students with body dissatisfaction may benefit from nicotine interventions.

Keywords:

• Body dissatisfaction
• comorbidity
• electronic nicotine delivery systems
• vaping
• young adult

Acknowledgments

This study was conducted as part of Anna Hochgraf’s doctoral dissertation at the Pennsylvania State University and findings were presented at the 2022 Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting. We would like to thank Susan McHale and Alison Field for their contributions to this study.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Pennsylvania State University.

Notes

1 The institutional review board at the first author’s current institution determined that the study was not human subjects research because the data were already collected and deidentified.

Additional information

Funding

Anna Hochgraf’s efforts were supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (PI: Hochgraf; F31 DA051118) and Award Number T32HL150452 (PI: D. Neumark-Sztainer) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, or the National Institutes of Health. Data collection for this study was funded by a Hintz Graduate Education Enhancement Fellowship and a Wohlwill Award to Anna Hochgraf from the Pennsylvania State University College of Health and Human Development. The REDCap software used in this study was funded by NIH/NCATS grants UL1 TR000127 and UL1 TR002014.