Teens who use electronic cigarettes may be more likely to smoke the real thing, new research suggests.<\/p>\n
The study, reported in\u00a0HealthDay,<\/em>\u00a0included almost 2,100 California\u00a0high school students, found that one-quarter had ever “vaped” (tried e-cigarettes). Ten percent of the teens were currently using e-cigarettes. And those current users were much more likely than their peers to also smoke cigarettes. One-third of e-cigarette users also smoked tobacco cigarettes, versus 1 percent of\u00a0kids\u00a0who’d never vaped.<\/p>\n Researchers said the findings do not prove e-cigarettes act as a gateway to tobacco use. But they raise the possibility that e-cigarettes are encouraging a more tobacco-friendly culture among kids, said study leader Jessica Barrington-Trimis, a researcher at the University of Southern California.<\/p>\n The study also found that most kids who used e-cigarettes also had friends or family members who used them. And about half believed these products were harmless.<\/p>\n Those positive attitudes, in turn, were linked to a greater risk of kids’ smoking cigarettes as well.<\/p>\n