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An Experimental Test of the Relationship between Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Use and Alcohol Consumption
Author(s) -
Hershberger Alexandra R.,
Studebaker Amanda,
Whitt Zachary T.,
Fillmore Mark,
Kahler Christopher W.,
Cyders Melissa A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.14566
Subject(s) - alcohol consumption , nicotine , test (biology) , alcohol , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , medicine , psychiatry , chemistry , sociology , biology , paleontology , social science , biochemistry
Background Increasing research shows that the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is associated with a higher rate and quantity of alcohol consumption. Methods The present study used a 2‐session, within‐subjects design to experimentally examine the relationship between ENDS use and laboratory ad libitum alcohol consumption. A total of N = 31 (mean age = 28.71, SD = 11.17; 45.2% women; 54.8% White/Caucasian) healthy adults from the community who use ENDS and endorsed liking beer completed the study, which included a beer consumption taste‐test task that assessed the volume of beer consumed by the participants across 2 counterbalanced sessions: 1 in which concurrent ENDS use was allowed and 1 in which it was not. All analyses controlled for age, race, and gender. Results The effect of ENDS condition on the volume of beer consumed was not statistically significant, F (1, 30) = 0.03, p = 0.86). Results of linear mixed modeling showed that ENDS puffs were significantly related to alcohol sips (estimate = 0.23, SE = 0.07, p = 0.002) across the ad libitum session. Conclusions Overall, ENDS use did not increase alcohol consumption; however, the data suggest that ENDS puffs might act as a prime for beer sips or that these 2 behaviors are linked through habit. Future studies should more fully measure and compare global and event‐level data on ENDS and alcohol use as they might show disparate patterns of relationships.