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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Substance Use Disorders and Behavioral Addictions
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1411099

Understanding Adolescent Consumption Patterns and Attitudes Towards the 'Puff' on the Path to a Smoke-Free Generation: A 2022 French Perspective

Provisionally accepted
Marin Cottin Marin Cottin 1,2,3Marion Catellin Marion Catellin 4Elen de Guiran Elen de Guiran 4Katiuska Miliani Katiuska Miliani 1Loic Josseran Loic Josseran 1,2,3,4Sylvain GAUTIER Sylvain GAUTIER 1,2,3*
  • 1 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Raymond Poincaré Hospital, AP-HP, Garches, France
  • 2 INSERM UMR1018, Primary Care and Prevention Team, Paris-Saclay University and Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, Villejuif, Île-de-France, France
  • 3 Academic Department of Public Health, Prevention, Observation, Territories - UFR Simone Veil - Health, Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
  • 4 ACT – French Alliance Against Tobacco, Paris, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in France with 75000 deaths each year. France aims to reduce smoking and achieve a smoke-free generation by 2032. However recent tobacco industry innovations which mainly targeting young people, could undermine this goal. The main objective of this study is to assess the knowledge and consumption patterns of the “puff” among French adolescents in 2022. Methods: A cross-sectional study using a structured online survey on a representative sample of 400 adolescents aged 13 to 16 years old was conducted July 4th-20th, 2022. Results: Around 66% of adolescents reported having heard of the puff, and one in ten having tried it. Slightly fewer of them have tried cigarettes; 89.6% of experimenters reported that it allowed them to explore unique flavors, 81.9% found it fun to play with the puff-cloud, and 94.5% of regular consumers considered it a stylish or cool product. 76% of adolescents believe that the puff is dangerous to their health, 71.6% describe it as a polluting device, and 62.8% think it’s a gadget. Conclusion: The “puff” is widely known by French adolescents and more commonly used than cigarettes, due, in part, to marketing specifically designed to target youth. That is why it could represent a threat to the smoke-free generation objectives. Public health policy could be informed by the ecological awareness of adolescents as a new lever of counter-influence to prevent this kind of consumption, as did ACT with the #stopcigarettespollution prevention campaign.

    Keywords: Tobacco, Public Health, Electronic cigarette, Smoking prevention, adolescents

    Received: 05 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cottin, Catellin, de Guiran, Miliani, Josseran and GAUTIER. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sylvain GAUTIER, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Raymond Poincaré Hospital, AP-HP, Garches, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.