Youth mental health and nicotine vape use: The moderating role of rural-urban/suburban school environments

OBJECTIVETo understand and compare the association between nicotine vape use and mental health among youth in rural and urban/suburban areas. METHODSThis cross-sectional study included 146,489 high school students from the 2019-2020 California Student Tobacco Survey. Descriptive statistics were estimated with frequencies and percentages. Separate bivariate associations between each covariate/predictor variable and mental health were examined using linear regression. Multivariate linear regression models were used to examine the association between nicotine vape use and mental health for youth attending school in rural versus suburban/urban communities. RESULTSFindings showed that vaping nicotine was associated with poorer overall mental health (b = -0.307, SE = 0.019, p