Background: The use of e-cigarettes are increasing predominantly among college students in the United States today. As a result, college students, as a large part of young adults, are a vulnerable group to several risky behaviors including smoking and drug abuse (Sharareh et al., 2020). The vulnerability produces on a large scale the unknown health risks that arise with the use of e-cigarettes containing the harmful chemical nicotine. Objective: To determine the motivations that drive Saint Louis University students to become dependent on the usage of nicotine. Methods: A survey was conducted and analyzed to determine the prevalence of nicotine use among our sample population of college students at Saint Louis University. The primary analysis included indication of grade level, dependency, and frequency of nicotine, and contributing factors of their usage. This will contribute to our case-control study that we will be conducting. The correlation between non-smokers and smokers will be used to determine the motivations that lead to or not to usage of nicotine. Conclusion: It is reported that on average, each cigarette smoked cuts someone’s life by 11 minutes and stopping smoking is arguably the single most important change that smokers can make to improve their health (Sharareh et al., 2020). By researching the usage of nicotine among Saint Louis University college students, the preventative measures can be addressed to lower the risk of nicotine addiction and unknown health risks.

The group would like to thank their faculty sponsor Dr. Elaina Osterbur for their support of this project.