Adverse childhood experiences and adolescent nicotine and marijuana vaping: Findings from a statewide sample of Florida youth

Abstract

A wealth of research links exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with negative outcomes including nicotine and marijuana use. In addition, an emerging line of research has documented associations between exposure to ACEs and vaping activity in American adults and international samples of adolescents. Very limited research, however, has explored whether a history of ACEs is linked with adolescent nicotine and marijuana vaping activity in an American sample. This study addresses this gap in the literature by employing multinomial logistic regression to examine whether cumulative exposure to ACEs is associated with adolescent nicotine vaping, dual mode use of nicotine, marijuana vaping, and dual mode use of marijuana in a sample of Florida high school students. Our findings reveal that greater cumulative exposure to ACEs (up to 5 ACEs) in adolescents leads to an increase in the likelihood of vaping nicotine and marijuana. In addition, greater cumulative exposure to ACEs (up to 6 ACEs) leads to an increase in the likelihood of using nicotine and marijuana through multiple delivery modes.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences; Marijuana; Nicotine; Smoking; Vaping.