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Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this narrative study is to describe the vaping and smoking characteristics of Queer people ages 18–34 before March of 2020 and to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those behaviors since March of 2020. In total, 31 participants were screened. Thirteen participant...

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Autores principales: Valera, Pamela, Owens, Madelyn, Malarkey, Sarah, Acuna, Nicholas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700781/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34948530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412919
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author Valera, Pamela
Owens, Madelyn
Malarkey, Sarah
Acuna, Nicholas
author_facet Valera, Pamela
Owens, Madelyn
Malarkey, Sarah
Acuna, Nicholas
author_sort Valera, Pamela
collection PubMed
description The purpose of this narrative study is to describe the vaping and smoking characteristics of Queer people ages 18–34 before March of 2020 and to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those behaviors since March of 2020. In total, 31 participants were screened. Thirteen participants were screened prior to the emergence of COVID-19, and 18 were screened when study protocols transitioned to a remote setting (pre and during). Of the 27 eligible participants, a total of 25 participants completed the study. Most participants (n = 13) self-identified as male, followed by five identified as female, four self-identified as gender non-binary, and three identified as transgender. The most common sexual orientation amongst participants was gay (n = 10), with bisexual being the second-most reported. Approximately 20 Queer participants reported using cigarettes, 14 participants self-reported using electronic devices, and 11 reported using hookah. Twenty participants reported smoking ten or less, and four self-reported using 11–20 cigarettes per day. Approximately, 92% of participants (n = 23) indicate that they are using an e-cigarette and regular cigarettes, and 57% of participants (n = 12) report using one pod or cartridge per day. The three themes that emerged in this study are: (1) Queer people during COVID-19 are experiencing heightened minority stress; (2) Queer people are unfamiliar with smoking cessation; and (3) vaping and smoking are attributed to stress and anxiety. Queer participants are likely to be dual users of cigarette and vaping products. This present study provides increasing evidence that Queer people are experiencing heightened stress and anxiety and using cigarette smoking and vaping to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-87007812021-12-24 Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic Valera, Pamela Owens, Madelyn Malarkey, Sarah Acuna, Nicholas Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The purpose of this narrative study is to describe the vaping and smoking characteristics of Queer people ages 18–34 before March of 2020 and to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those behaviors since March of 2020. In total, 31 participants were screened. Thirteen participants were screened prior to the emergence of COVID-19, and 18 were screened when study protocols transitioned to a remote setting (pre and during). Of the 27 eligible participants, a total of 25 participants completed the study. Most participants (n = 13) self-identified as male, followed by five identified as female, four self-identified as gender non-binary, and three identified as transgender. The most common sexual orientation amongst participants was gay (n = 10), with bisexual being the second-most reported. Approximately 20 Queer participants reported using cigarettes, 14 participants self-reported using electronic devices, and 11 reported using hookah. Twenty participants reported smoking ten or less, and four self-reported using 11–20 cigarettes per day. Approximately, 92% of participants (n = 23) indicate that they are using an e-cigarette and regular cigarettes, and 57% of participants (n = 12) report using one pod or cartridge per day. The three themes that emerged in this study are: (1) Queer people during COVID-19 are experiencing heightened minority stress; (2) Queer people are unfamiliar with smoking cessation; and (3) vaping and smoking are attributed to stress and anxiety. Queer participants are likely to be dual users of cigarette and vaping products. This present study provides increasing evidence that Queer people are experiencing heightened stress and anxiety and using cigarette smoking and vaping to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. MDPI 2021-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8700781/ /pubmed/34948530 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412919 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Valera, Pamela
Owens, Madelyn
Malarkey, Sarah
Acuna, Nicholas
Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Exploring Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among Queer Adults during the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort exploring tobacco and e-cigarette use among queer adults during the early days of the covid-19 pandemic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700781/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34948530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412919
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