Breathe-in, breathe-out: A correlational study on the level of knowledge and attitude of students towards electronic cigarette smoking

Despite the rising trend of e-cigarette use among the youth, there is a scarcity of data on the knowledge and attitudes of e-cigarette users, especially among young adults in the Philippines. This correlation study aims to assess the level of knowledge and attitude towards e-cigarette smoking among college students. Using simple random sampling, 221 respondents were gathered from the private universities in Intramuros, Manila. Their level of knowledge on e-cigarettes is “Advanced” (39.4%) while their attitude towards e-cigarette smoking is “Slightly Negative” (52.9%). As the level of knowledge towards e-cigarette smoking increases, it is more likely that their attitude to be negative or neutral towards e-cigarette smoking. The two variables have significant positive negligible correlation (0.01 level of significance, r=.190) demonstrating that the level of knowledge on electronic cigarettes can be one of the factors that can affect attitude towards electronic cigarette smoking, among other determining factors. From the conclusions, the recommendations are offered such as reinforcement and inclusion of the harmful effects of electronic cigarettes in anti-smoking campaigns and regulations, as well as schools to strengthen programs and intervention measures to educate students with factual health information on e-cigarette smoking