Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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The popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among adolescents is growing worldwide. A more accurate model than the much discussed but inadequate Gateway Hypothesis is needed to explain some adolescents' initial preference for e-cigarettes over tobacco cigarettes, as well as any transition from e-cigarettes to tobacco smoking. Our aim was to summarize the diffuse fear that adolescents will be indirectly encouraged to begin smoking tobacco via the use of e-cigarettes and to systematize the disparate causal hypotheses used thus far in relevant literature. ⋯ We developed a model that provides causal hypotheses for the initiation of e-cigarette use and for the potential transition to tobacco smoking.