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Compulsive exercise and vaping among a sample of U.S. College students aged 18–26 years

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Abstract

Purpose

To determine the association between compulsive exercise and vaping among college students aged 18–26 years, and to characterize the type of vaping used among participants who report compulsive exercise.

Methods

Cross-sectional, pooled data from two survey years (2018–2020; N = 2125) of the national (U.S.) Healthy Minds Study were analyzed. Compulsive exercise was measured based on number of occurrences in the past 28 days (analyzed continuously and among those who reported  ≥ 1 and ≥ 20 occurrences). Vaping was measured based on reported use in the past 30 days. Most recent type of vaping was assessed only among participants who reported vaping. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate the associations between compulsive exercise and vaping, while adjusting for covariates.

Results

For every additional occurrence of compulsive exercise reported by participants, their odds of also reporting vaping increased by 5% (95% CI 1.01–1.09). Participants who reported 20 or more occurrences of compulsive exercise in the past 28 days, a clinical threshold, had 3.71 (95% CI 1.28–10.76) higher odds of vaping in the past 30 days. Among participants who endorsed vaping, nicotine vaping was the most common recent type for those who reported any (76.2%) or 20 or more (50.2%) occurrences of compulsive exercise.

Conclusion

Compulsive exercise is associated with vaping in a national, U.S. sample of college students, with nicotine vaping being the most common type used. Screening for both compulsive exercise and vaping, particularly if either is reported, among college-age young adults is necessary to implement prevention and intervention strategies.

Level of evidence

V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Availability of data and material

The Healthy Minds Study is available to researchers. Please visit http://healthymindsnetwork.org for more information.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Samuel E. Benabou for providing editorial assistance.

Funding

No funding was used to support this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street W, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada

    Kyle T. Ganson

  2. Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jason M. Lavender

  3. Military Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (MiCOR) Program, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jason M. Lavender

  4. Metis Foundation, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Jason M. Lavender

  5. Department of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Rachel F. Rodgers

  6. Department of Psychiatric Emergency and Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHRU Montpellier, France

    Rachel F. Rodgers

  7. School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, North South Wales, Australia

    Mitchell Cunningham

  8. Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jason M. Nagata

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  1. Kyle T. Ganson
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  4. Mitchell Cunningham
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Contributions

KTG conceptualized the study, conducted the data analysis, and drafted the initial manuscript. JML, RFR, MC, and JMN contributed to the conceptualization and reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the submitted manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyle T. Ganson.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The Healthy Minds Study was approved by the Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board at the University of Michigan and all participating institutions. Further ethics review was not required for this secondary analysis given that the data is anonymous and publicly available.

Informed consent

All participants of the Healthy Minds Study provided informed consent.

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The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University or the Department of Defense.

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Ganson, K.T., Lavender, J.M., Rodgers, R.F. et al. Compulsive exercise and vaping among a sample of U.S. College students aged 18–26 years. Eat Weight Disord 27, 1153–1161 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01251-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-021-01251-z

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