Vaping is perceived differently by men and women

For the first time to our knowledge, a behavioral study carried out jointly in several countries (England, USA, Canada, Australia, Thailand) aimed to measure the differences in perception of vaping among men and women. A population of 3,938 adult vapers aged 18 and over (46% of whom were women) were surveyed.

It is clear that for men, the number one reason to vape is that they consider electronic cigarettes to be less harmful than tobacco (for 85.8% of them). For 85.5% of women, the number one reason is that electronic cigarettes are significantly less harmful to others and that they help reduce cigarette consumption. Women therefore seem to be very sensitive to the problem of passive smoking. Likewise, and surprisingly, women are significantly more attracted than men to high levels of nicotine. Relative to material and always compared to men, they prefer devices with a capacity of 2 ml.

On the other hand, no gender difference was found when it came to flavors, with fruity aromas coming first. This study is of interest for a better definition of withdrawal programs and to a lesser extent for better targeted marketing.

Gender differences in reasons for using electronic cigarettes and product characteristics: Findings from the 2018 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey. Pongkwan Yimsaard et coll. Nicotine Tob. Res. 2020 Sep 30;ntaa196.