Effects of Social Media on Adolescents’ Willingness and Intention to Use E-Cigarettes: An Experimental Investigation

Abstract

Introduction This study examined effects of experimentally manipulated social media exposure on adolescents’ willingness and intention to use e-cigarettes. Methods Participants were 135 adolescents age 13-18 (52.6% female, M age=15.3) in California. Participants viewed 6 social media posts online in a 2 (post source: peer or advertisement) X 2 (e-cigarette content exposure: heavy or light) between-subjects design. Analyses were weighted to population benchmarks. We examined adolescents’ beliefs, willingness, and intention to use e-cigarettes in association with social media use intensity in daily life and with experimentally manipulated exposure to social media posts that varied by source (peer or advertisement) and content (e-cigarette heavy or light). Results Greater social media use in daily life was associated with greater willingness and intention to use e-cigarettes and more positive attitudes, greater perceived norms, and lower perceived danger of e-cigarette use (all p-values<.01). In tests of the experimental exposures, heavy (versus light) e-cigarette content resulted in greater intention (p=.049) to use e-cigarettes and more positive attitudes (p=.019). Viewing advertisements (versus peer-generated posts) resulted in greater willingness and intention (p-values<.01) to use e-cigarettes, more positive attitudes (p=.003), and greater norm perceptions (p=.009). The interaction effect of post source by post content was not significant for any of the outcomes (all p-values>0.529) Conclusions Greater social media use and heavier exposure to advertisements and e-cigarette content in social media posts are associated with a greater risk for e-cigarette use among adolescents. Regulatory action is needed to prohibit sponsored e-cigarette content on social media platforms used by youth.

The Vaping Teenager: Understanding the Psychographics and Interests of Adolescent Vape Users to Inform Health Communication Campaigns

“…Heavy social media use may contribute to adolescent vaping as user- and industry-generated vaping content abounds across platforms, 70-74 and early research suggests that heavier social media use and exposure to vape advertisements on social media are associated with willingness and intentions to vape. 75 Given the known association between exposure to online tobacco marketing and adolescent tobacco initiation and progression, 76,77 heavy social media use among Hip Hop and Popular adolescents may further explain why these youth vape. At the same time, these findings can guide health communicators in selecting relevant campaign channels and delivering content via targeted advertisements.…”

Well-being of Parents and Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey

“…We fielded the Vanderbilt Child Health COVID-19 Poll from June 5 to 10, 2020, using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a large online research panel created by using probability-based address sampling of US households. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Households without Internet at the time of recruitment are provided with an Internet-enabled tablet. Participants in KnowledgePanel receive nominal periodic incentives to participate.…”

Patterns of electronic cigarette, conventional cigarette, and hookah use and related passive exposure among adolescents in Kuwait: A cross-sectional study

“…Nevertheless, use of tobacco products is still substantial among adolescents in Kuwait as demonstrated by the results of this report. Several factors could contribute to such high use of tobacco products among adolescent, including the emergence of flavored tobacco in e-cigarettes and hookah, direct and indirect promotion and marketing through social media, misperceptions of harms, and wide access and availability 39,40 . In our study sample, of adolescents who are currently using tobacco products, 68.3% were not refused purchase of tobacco products because of their age during the past 30 days, and 51.4%, 39.5%, and 9.1% thought it is 'easy', 'somewhat easy', and 'not easy at all', respectively, for people at their age (i.e.…”