The allure and aversion of electronic cigarettes.
We can spot them from a mile away.  Vapers—disappearing in a huge cloud of smoke every time they take a hit.  Their cars look like fog machines if they are vaping while driving, and they are painfully visible in public as well.  But is vaping cool?  Does being surrounded by a huge cloud of white smoke enhance the image of the vaper? Not necessarily.  Yet at least among young people, vaping is on the rise.
Who Vapes?
Wallace and Roche note that college student e-cigarette use is linked with being White, male, having a Greek affiliation, and smoking or having smoked regular cigarettes in the past. They further found that White smokers perceived more positive social impact from e-cigarette use than non-White smokers, which they describe as consistent with existing research. They also cite research that found that among current and former cigarette smokers, Whites perceived a greater amount of social stigma attached to smoking than Latinos or Blacks.  They could not, however, predict what type of social stigma might attach to e-cigarette smoking, because their sample may not equate to results within the general population.
The good news is that vaping does not appear to have the same allure and sex appeal that characterized cigarette smoking decades ago, and sadly sometimes still does today.  We continually promote education designed to inform e-cigarette users about the serious health risks associated with vaping, which over time may very well outweigh whatever personal or social benefits they perceive.
Wendy L. Patrick, JD, Ph.D – Psychology Today – October 17, 2020.
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