Electronic Nicotine Vaping Outcomes Scale (ENVO)

Abstract

The Electronic Nicotine Vaping Outcomes Scale (ENVO), as detailed by Harrell et al. in 2023, is a comprehensive 32-item instrument designed to measure beliefs about the outcomes, or expectancies, of using Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). The development of this scale was initiated because existing measurement tools were found to potentially overlook crucial concepts necessary for a complete conceptualization of vaping expectancies within contemporary and racially diverse populations. The creation process began with an initial pool of 150 items, which were formulated through a literature review of prior cigarette smoking expectancy measures and insights gathered from focus groups with young adults to understand their beliefs regarding ENDS use. Following a Delphi panel refinement, this pool was condensed to a 51-item measure. This version of the scale was then administered to a diverse sample of young adult college students from a community college, a four-year university, and a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the United States. Subsequent Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses resulted in a final 5-factor solution that retained 32 items. The research also reported findings supporting the measure’s measurement invariance, reliability, and validity.

Keywords

Addiction; College Students; Consequence; E-Cigarettes; Electronic Cigarettes; Electronic Nicotine Vaping; Expectations; Health Outcomes; Incremental Validity; Negative Affect Reduction; Negative Consequences; Nicotine; Positive Reinforcement; Substance Use and Addiction Measures; Vaping; Vaping Expectancies; Vaping Outcomes; Weight Control

Authors

Paul T. Harrell; Thomas H. Brandon; Stephen E. Stark; Vani N. Simmons; Tracey E. Barnett; Gwendolyn P. Quinn; Seokjoon Chun

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Purpose

The primary purpose of this instrument is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the expectancies related to electronic nicotine vaping among young adults.

Construct

Electronic Nicotine Vaping Outcomes

Validity

Convergent & Divergent Validity: The scale demonstrated strong convergent and divergent validity. Vaping susceptibility showed a positive correlation with the subscales for positive reinforcement (PR) (r = .44, p < .001), negative affect reduction (NAR) (r = .24, p < .001), weight control (WC) (r = .09, p < .001), and addiction (r = .05, p < .05). Conversely, it was negatively correlated with the negative consequences (NC) subscale (r = -.25, p < .001). Very similar correlational patterns were observed with lifetime vaping history: PR (r = .49, p < .001), NAR (r = .26, p < .001), WC (r = .07, p < .001), addiction (r = .08, p < .001), and NC (r = -.18, p < .001).

Incremental Validity: Hierarchical linear regression analyses confirmed the incremental validity of the scale. The factors identified were significant predictors of lifetime vaping, even after controlling for demographic variables, exposure to vaping advertisements, and the influence of peer and family vaping habits.

IRT Characteristics: Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses indicated that the individual items are strongly related to their underlying constructs, with ‘a’ parameters (discrimination) ranging from 1.26 to 3.18. The items also effectively cover a wide spectrum of the expectancies continuum, as shown by ‘b’ parameters (difficulty) ranging from 0.72 to 2.47.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The reliability of the scale was found to be supportive. Analysis of internal consistency yielded the following Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the five subscales:

• Positive Reinforcement: α = .92

• Negative Consequences: α = .94

• Negative Affect Reduction: α = .95

• Weight Control: α = .92

• Addiction: α = .87

Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): An initial set of 51 items was subjected to an EFA using an exploratory/developmental split-half sample. This process led to the exclusion of five items that exhibited secondary factorial loadings greater than .2. An additional 14 items were deleted because they were conceptually redundant with other items that had higher loadings. Multiple criteria, including the Kaiser-Guttman criterion, Catell’s scree test, a parallel analysis with 500 replications, and both versions of Velicer’s MAP test, all converged to support a 5-factor solution. This final model comprised 32 items distributed across five subscales, with primary factor loadings ranging impressively from .60 to 1.00.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): The 5-factor solution was tested and demonstrated a good fit to the data, as indicated by the fit indices: CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, and RMSEA = 0.05.

Measurement Invariance: The measure exhibited strong measurement invariance, specifically showing configural, scalar, and metric invariance across various comparison groups. These groups included tobacco use status, lifetime vaping status, current vaping status, race (in comparisons of white only versus other, and black only versus other), and self-reported gender.

Instrument

• Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

• Format: Items are rated on a 5-point scale with response options ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

• Language Available: English

• Population Group: Human; Male; Female

• Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older); Young Adulthood (18-29 years)

• Population Details: The sample consisted of students from a Community College, a Four-Year University, and a Historically Black College or University, all located in the United States.

• Test Methodology: The development and validation involved Test Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Item Response Theory, and Measurement Invariance analyses.

Keywords

Addiction; College Students; Consequence; E-Cigarettes; Electronic Cigarettes; Electronic Nicotine Vaping; Expectations; Health Outcomes; Incremental Validity; Negative Affect Reduction; Negative Consequences; Nicotine; Positive Reinforcement; Substance Use and Addiction Measures; Vaping; Vaping Expectancies; Vaping Outcomes; Weight Control

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Authors

• Harrell, Paul T.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Community Health & Research Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)

  • Email addresses: [email protected]

  • Correspondence Address: Eastern Virginia Medical School, Division of Community Health & Research, P.O. Box 1980, Norfolk, Virginia, United States, 23501-1980

• Brandon, Thomas H.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior, Moffitt Cancer Center

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Stark, Stephen E.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of South Florida

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Simmons, Vani N.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior, Moffitt Cancer Center

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Barnett, Tracey E.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2932-1540

  • Affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health University of North Texas, Health Science Center

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Quinn, Gwendolyn P.

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Chun, Seokjoon

  • Author ocrid Identifier: No data is Available

  • Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of South Florida

  • Email addresses: No data is Available

  • Correspondence Address: No data is Available

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Permissions: May be used for Research/Teaching purposes.

• Fee: No fee is required.

• Commercial: Not for commercial use.

• Test Year: 2023

reference’s

Harrell, P. T., Brandon, T. H., Stark, S. E., Simmons, V. N., Barnett, T. E., Quinn, G. P., & Chun, S. (2023). Measuring vaping-related expectancies in young adults: Psychometric evaluation of the electronic nicotine vaping outcomes (ENVO) scale. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 246, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109861

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Items of the Electronic Nicotine Vaping Outcomes Scale (ENVO)

This measure is composed of 32 individual items, which are grouped into five distinct factors or subscales:

1. Positive Reinforcement

2. Negative Consequences

3. Negative Affect Reduction

4. Weight Control

5. Addiction

The complete list of the 32 test items is available for review in the source publication, specifically in Table 2 on page 5.

Positive Reinforcement

Negative Consequences

Weight and Appetite Control

Addiction

Negative Affect Reduction / Negative Reinforcement

Note. Response options range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).