Social media and E-cigarette use among US youth: Longitudinal evidence on the role of online advertisement exposure and risk perception

Zheng, Xia; Li, Wenbo; Wong, Su-Wei; Lin, Hsien-Chang

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106916

Cited by 51 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Pro-e-cigarette content on social media has the potential to shape positive social norms surrounding use among youth. Indeed, experimental and observational studies showed that youth who use social media frequently are more willing to try, have positive attitudes towards, have less harm perceptions to and are more likely to initiate e-cigarettes 7–9. Thus, surveillance of e-cigarettes on social media is critical to inform tobacco control efforts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding e-cigarette content and promotion on YouTube through machine learning

et al. 2022

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IntroductionYouTube is a popular social media used by youth and has electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) content. We used machine learning to identify the content of e-cigarette videos, featured e-cigarette products, video uploaders, and marketing and sales of e-cigarette products.MethodsWe identified e-cigarette content using 18 search terms (eg, e-cig) using fictitious youth viewer profiles and predicted four models using the metadata as the input to supervised machine learning: (1) video themes, (2) featured e-cigarette products, (3) channel type (ie, video uploaders) and (4) discount/sales. We assessed the association between engagement data and the four models.Results3830 English videos were included in the supervised machine learning. The most common video theme was ‘product review’ (48.9%), followed by ‘instruction’ (eg, ‘how to’ use/modify e-cigarettes; 17.3%); diverse e-cigarette products were featured; ‘vape enthusiasts’ most frequently posted e-cigarette videos (54.0%), followed by retailers (20.3%); 43.2% of videos had discount/sales of e-cigarettes; and the most common sales strategy was external links for purchasing (34.1%). ‘Vape trick’ was the least common theme but had the highest engagement (eg, >2 million views). ‘Cannabis’ (53.9%) and ‘instruction’ (49.9%) themes were more likely to have external links for purchasing (p<0.001). The four models achieved an F1 score (a measure of model accuracy) of up to 0.87.DiscussionOur findings indicate that on YouTube videos accessible to youth, a variety of e-cigarette products are featured through diverse videos themes, with discount/sales. The findings highlight the need to regulate the promotion of e-cigarettes on social media platforms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding e-cigarette content and promotion on YouTube through machine learning

et al. 2022

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“…Surveillance of e-cigarettes on YouTube is crucial to understanding how health information and marketing are being communicated to users and nonusers, particularly among youth. Youth are vulnerable to e-cigarette content on social media [ 37 ], and they actively use social media platforms such as YouTube to obtain information, including information on novel uses of e-cigarettes [ 38 ]. Thus, having a better understanding of e-cigarette information being shown to youth is an important public health goal, as such information can provide insight into the public health policies needed and the social media platforms that control these algorithms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploration of e-Cigarette–Related Search Items on YouTube: Network Analysis

Dashtian¹,

Murthy²,

Kong³

2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background e-Cigarette use among youth is high, which may be due in part to pro–e-cigarette content on social media such as YouTube. YouTube is also a valuable resource for learning about e-cigarette use, trends, marketing, and e-cigarette user perceptions. However, there is a lack of understanding on how similar e-cigarette–related search items result in similar or relatively mutually exclusive search results. This study uses novel methods to evaluate the relationship between e-cigarette–related search items and results. Objective The aim of this study is to apply network modeling and rule-based classification to characterize the relationships between e-cigarette–related search items on YouTube and gauge the level of importance of each search item as part of an e-cigarette information network on YouTube. Methods We used 16 fictitious YouTube profiles to retrieve 4201 distinct videos from 18 keywords related to e-cigarettes. We used network modeling to represent the relationships between the search items. Moreover, we developed a rule-based classification approach to classify videos. We used betweenness centrality (BC) and correlations between nodes (ie, search items) to help us gain knowledge of the underlying structure of the information network. Results By modeling search items and videos as a network, we observed that broad search items such as e-cig had the most connections to other search items, and specific search items such as cigalike had the least connections. Search items with similar words (eg, vape and vaping) and search items with similar meaning (eg, e-liquid and e-juice) yielded a high degree of connectedness. We also found that each node had 18 (SD 34.8) connections (common videos) on average. BC indicated that general search items such as electronic cigarette and vaping had high importance in the network (BC=0.00836). Our rule-based classification sorted videos into four categories: e-cigarette devices (34%-57%), cannabis vaping (16%-28%), e-liquid (14%-37%), and other (8%-22%). Conclusions Our findings indicate that search items on YouTube have unique relationships that vary in strength and importance. Our methods can not only be used to successfully identify the important, overlapping, and unique e-cigarette–related search items but also help determine which search items are more likely to act as a gateway to e-cigarette–related content.

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“…The following were considered main predictors for the simple and the multiple logistic regression models: current smoking of tobacco products (regular cigarettes, waterpipe, and medwakh) (Yes/No); having a parent who currently smokes regular cigarettes, waterpipe, and medwakh (Yes/No); having a close peer who currently smokes regular cigarettes, waterpipe, and medwakh (Yes/No); thinking that e-cigarettes have moderate/high levels of harm to health (Yes/No); believing that e-cigarettes are addictive (Yes/No); having received information about e-cigarettes through a media source (Yes/No) (the following media sources were considered: social media like Facebook or Twitter; online advertising; television advertisement; radio advertisement; billboards and/or public signs; newspapers or magazines); and thinking that tobacco increases the risk of COVID-19 and its complications (Yes/No). Media information had been studied since in the literature, there is evidence that increased exposure to e-cigarette advertisements is associated with higher likelihood of e-cigarette use [33]. Other covariates adjusted for in the regression models included socio-demographics: female gender, age (numerically), and Emirati nationality (Yes/No).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge and Use of Electronic Cigarettes in Young Adults in the United Arab Emirates, Particularly during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abbasi¹,

Hout

Faragalla

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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(1) Background: The popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has recently increased. Although they are less harmful than regular cigarettes, they still cause health consequences and their use for smoking cessation is inconclusive. The objective of this study was to evaluate patterns of use, knowledge about, and attitude towards e-cigarettes among youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while also researching the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking behavior. (2) Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was distributed across three major universities in the UAE (n = 240) between March and November 2021. Descriptive analysis, comparison across gender and nationality groups, and correlates between 30-day e-cigarette use and self-reported increases in nicotine consumption during the pandemic were studied. (3) Results: About 37% of students had used an e-cigarette in their lifetime, and 23% had smoked e-cigarettes in the past month. During the pandemic, 52% of university students self-reported no change in nicotine consumption, while only 17.5% had reported an increase. The current smoking of regular cigarettes, waterpipe, and medwakh increased the odds of having an increase in smoking during the pandemic by 5.3 times. (4) Conclusions: The findings inform about youth behavior and knowledge about vaping in the UAE and could also support the development of awareness interventions.

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Social media and E-cigarette use among US youth: Longitudinal evidence on the role of online advertisement exposure and risk perception

Cited by 51 publications

References 37 publications

Understanding e-cigarette content and promotion on YouTube through machine learning

Understanding e-cigarette content and promotion on YouTube through machine learning

An Exploration of e-Cigarette–Related Search Items on YouTube: Network Analysis

Knowledge and Use of Electronic Cigarettes in Young Adults in the United Arab Emirates, Particularly during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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