A new study has suggested that young adults under 25 believe hookah and e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, when compared to 25 to 34-year-olds.
In the study, researcher Olivia A. Wackowski studied data from 2,871 smoking and nonsmoking young adults, ages 18-34, and found that a quarter of young adults believed hookah to be less risky than cigarettes.
Wackowski said that this was concerning as it suggested that even a substantial proportion of nonsmokers might view hookah as being a relatively safer and acceptable way to use tobacco.
They found that 62.1percent of young adults ages 18 to 24 believed that e-cigarettes were less risky than cigarettes, while 54.6percent
In addition, 32.7percent of 18 to 24-year-olds believed hookah to be less risky than cigarettes, while 18.5percent of 25 to 34-year-olds believed hookah to be less risky.
Wackowski said that this might be associated with differences in advertising messages these groups were exposed to, the variety of flavors these different products were offered in, and added that in the case of e-cigarettes, possibly an inclination for younger people to attribute more positive feelings toward newer products that were seen as new and ‘techy.’
