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The use of e-cigarette among Korean adolescents is spreading with alarming rapidity, but it has not been studied along with the severity level of GAD-7. This study aims to identify adolescents' e-cigarette use and its associated factors among four different anxiety groups using the problem behavioral theory (PBT).

A cross-sectional secondary dataset was retrieved from the 2020 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Of the total sample of 54,948, four anxiety groups were formed: minimal (score 0–4; n = 36,711), mild (score 5–9; n = 12,138), moderate (score 10–14; n = 4143), and severe (score above 15; n = 1965). A total of 11 variables were selected based on the PBT domains. Descriptive analysis, Chi-square, ANOVA, univariate analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed.

E-cigarette use was the highest in the order of severe, mild, moderate, and minimal. While …