Abstract:
Electronic cigarette smoking is becoming increasingly prevalent among higher education students. This research aimed to study e-cigarette smoking behaviors and factors associated with e-cigarette use among university students. The sample consisted of 374 higher education students in Chanthaburi Province. Data was collected by self-administered questionnaires including personal information, cigarette smoking and electronic cigarette smoking, attitude towards e-cigarette smoking, stress, and smoking e-cigarette refusal self-efficacy. The data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Binary logistic regression. The study found that 21.9% of higher education students used e-cigarettes, with 11.5% reporting daily use. The average age of initial e-cigarette use was 16.7 years (SD = 2.46). Factors significantly associated with e-cigarette smoking included: peer smoking (OR = 11.37, 95%CI = 4.468 28.919), cigarette smoking (OR = 10.41, 95%CI = 5.955 18.210), attitude towards e-cigarette smoking (OR = 8.32, 95%CI = 4.541 15.226), smoking e-cigarette refusal self-efficacy (OR = 7.54, 95%CI = 4.242 13.409), parental approval of smoking e-cigarette (OR = 6.16, 95%CI = 3.354 11.320), gender (OR = 5.62, 95%CI = 3.330 9.494), academic achievement (OR = 2.87, 95%CI = 1.735 4.739), peer pressure to smoke e-cigarettes (OR = 2.21, 95%CI = 1.344 3.631), family member smoking (OR = 2.13, 95%CI = 1.262 3.593), and e-cigarette advertising accessibility (OR = 1.87, 95%CI = 1.140 3.071). These research findings will be valuable for healthcare professionals and people involved in developing effective programs to prevent e-cigarette smoking among higher education students.