Examining the electronic cigarette use outcome expectancies in terms of anxiety sensitivity and emotion dysregulation in young adults

Electronic cigarette use outcome expectancies are defined as individuals' beliefs about the positive or negative results of using electronic cigarettes. This study aimed to examine e-cigarette use outcome expectancies in terms of anxiety sensitivity and emotion dysregulation in young adults, and to investigate the association between sociodemographic factors and conventional cigarette or e-cigarette use behaviors. The sample consisted of 273 participants (137 women, 136 men) aged between 18 and 25 years. This study was conducted through Qualtrics, and participants were asked to fill out the informed consent form, demographic information form, E-Cigarette Use Outcome Expectancies Scale, Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. According to Pearson correlation analysis, anxiety sensitivity was positively associated with emotion dysregulation, positive outcome expectancies, and negative outcome expectancies. Emotion dysregulation was found to be positively associated with positive outcome expectancies. Additionally, partial correlation analysis indicated that there was a negative relationship between emotion dysregulation and negative outcome expectancies when anxiety sensitivity was controlled. The one-way multivariate analyses of variance results showed that men had higher positive outcome expectancies and lower negative outcome expectancies compared to women. Furthermore, it was found that nonusers had higher negative outcome expectancies but lower positive outcome expectancies compared to smokers and dual users. Lastly, according to the results of multiple regression analyses, anxiety sensitivity positively predicted both positive outcome expectancies and negative outcome expectancies. Emotion dysregulation positively predicted positive outcome expectancies but negatively predicted negative outcome expectancies. The study's current findings, theoretical contributions, limitations, and clinical implications were discussed in the light of existing literature, and recommendations for future research were made. Keywords: electronic cigarette use outcome expectancies, anxiety sensitivity, emotion dysregulation