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Abstract
As a new threat to public health, factors that precede vaping initiation, maintenance, and escalation to cigarette smoking are not yet well-understood. However, addictions research to date supports further investigation of interacting trait and state factors, as well as underlying brain mechanisms that could serve as important markers in identifying individuals at the highest risk of suffering negative consequences from vaping. The present study is a holistic, multi-variable approach to studying vaping outcomes. Three hypotheses were examined: first, it was hypothesized that self-reported impulsivity would exacerbate expected negative effects of craving on four-week vaping frequency. Second, it was expected that the interaction between emotional and cognitive control brain systems would moderate the effects of craving on vaping frequency, where lower cognitive control (i.e., marker of impulsivity) of emotional regions would confer poorer outcomes. Finally, it was believed that interacting biomarkers, indicated by fMRI, would exhibit common and unique utility predicting vaping frequency when assessed in the same statistical model as subjective self-reports of craving, affect, and impulsivity.