The aim of this research was to study trajectories of use ofelectronic cigarettes (EC) over time among youths distinguishing between EC only and dual users (EC + traditional cigarettes) and to Research Poster Symposia / Journal of Adolescent Health 66 (2020) S23eS41S34 assess reasons to use EC. Particularly, we aimed to observe whether ECs were a gateway to traditional cigarettes (TC) and if they effectively helped in quitting smoking.
Methods: Data came from the Generation FRee survey, a longitudinal study on youths’lifestyles (15-24 years at baseline[T1]) in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Participants (N¼1437, mean age 16.7; 51.8% females) were divided at T1 in 4 groups according to their curren tsmoking status: TC-only smokers (N¼378, 26.3%; 51.5% females), EC-only (N¼42, 2.9%; 27.3% females), dual users (N¼97, 6.7%; 39.6% females) and non-smokers (N¼920, 64%; 53.4% females). Additionally, participants in the EC-only and dual groups at T1 reported the reasonsfor EC use. Finally, we determined the trajectories between T1 and T2(2016 and 2017) by observing in which of the 4 categories EC-only anddual users at T1 were at T2.