Reasons for Nicotine Pouch Use Among US Youth: 2025

OBJECTIVE: To document prevalence of reasons for nicotine pouch (NP) use and associations with use patterns among US youth. METHODS: Data were from US youth reporting ever NP use in the nationally representative 2025 Monitoring the Future survey. We estimated (1) prevalence of 10 reasons for NP use (yes/no) and (2) association of each reason with past 30-day NP use (yes/no) and frequency (1-30 days). For comparison, we contrasted reasons for NP and e-cigarette use among youth reporting NP use (n = 57) or e-cigarette use (n = 397) on at least 10 of the past 30 days. RESULTS: Among 484 respondents reporting ever NP use (6.1% of youth surveyed on NP use and reasons), the most common reasons were experimentation (32.3%), nicotine buzz (30.5%), relaxation (22.7%), appealing flavors (17.4%), convenience (16.5%), socializing (16.0%), boredom (11.7%), and ability to conceal use (11.0%). To quit smoking (6.2%) and feeling addicted (2.1%) were less common. Flavors, convenience, and feeling addicted were positively associated with both past 30-day NP use (prevalence ratios [PRs] range = 1.50-2.35) and frequency (incidence rate ratios [IRRs] range = 1.60-2.55). Nicotine buzz, relaxation, socializing, concealment, and to quit smoking were only associated with past 30-day use (PRs range = 1.57-1.85). Experimentation was inversely associated with frequency (IRR = 0.42). The prevalence of reasons overlapped between NPs and e-cigarettes, with relaxation, convenience, nicotine buzz, and flavors most prevalent among youth regularly using each product. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention and regulatory strategies addressing NP use reasons, particularly flavors and convenience, are warranted. Existing effective strategies targeting youth nicotine vaping may be applicable to NP use.