Effects of Social Media on Adolescents’ Willingness and Intention to Use E-cigarettes: An Experiment
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Erin
A Vogel, Danielle E Ramo, Mark L Rubinstein, Kevin L Delucchi, Sabrina M
Darrow, Caitlin Costello, Judith J Prochaska.
Effects of Social Media on
Adolescents’ Willingness and Intention to Use E-cigarettes: An Experimental
Investigation.
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 23, Issue 4, April 2021, Pages 694–701,
https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa003
Introduction. This
study examined the effects of experimentally manipulated social media exposure
on adolescents’ willingness and intention to use e-cigarettes.
Aims and Methods. Participants
were 135 adolescents of age 13–18 (52.6% female, mean age = 15.3) in
California. Participants viewed six social media posts online in a 2 (post
source: peer or advertisement) × 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 (vs. light) e-cigarette content
resulted in greater intention (p = .049) to use e-cigarettes and more positive
attitudes (p = .019). Viewing advertisements (vs. 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 >.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.
Implications. Adolescents
who use social media intensely may be at higher risk for e-cigarette use. Even
brief exposure to e-cigarette content on social media was associated with
greater intention to use and more positive attitudes toward e-cigarettes.
Regulatory action should be taken to prohibit sponsored e-cigarette content on
social media used by young people, including posts by influencers who appeal to
young people.
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