Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We explore the effect of e-cigarette minimum legal purchase age implementation on cigarette use and birth outcomes among pregnant teenagers. E-cigarettes were only introduced in the United States in 2007, but already e-cigarette use has surpassed cigarette use as the most commonly used tobacco product among teenagers. One policy effort to combat this trend is implementing minimum legal purchase ages (usually age 18) for e-cigarettes, similar to laws in place for cigarettes since 1988. New Jersey implemented the first e-cigarette minimum legal purchase age law in 2010, and as of November 2014, 40 states had such laws in place. Two studies have found that minimum legal purchase age laws for e-cigarettes have increased cigarette use among teenagers, demonstrating a pattern of substitution between these products. In this study, we explore if similar substitution occurs among pregnant teenagers. We hypothesize that the enactment of e-cigarette minimum legal purchase ages increases cigarette use among pregnant teenagers by reducing the use of e-cigarettes as smoking cessation devices. Since e-cigarettes are considered to be only 5% as harmful as regular cigarettes, higher cigarette use in turn may be associated with decreases in birth weight and gestation length.