Objectives

Previous studies revealed a link between social media use and e-cigarette use among U.S. youth, but less is known about the mechanisms through which they interconnect. This study examined how social media and e-cigarette use are connected through online advertisement exposure and risk perception of e-cigarettes among U.S. youth.

Methods

Youth aged 12–17 from the Public Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Waves 2–4 (2014–2018) were included (N = 6,208). This study integrated the incidental exposure framework and the risk perception framework to guide study conceptualization and variable selection. Generalized structural equation modeling was performed to investigate the sequential mediation relationship between social media and e-cigarette use through online e-cigarette advertisement exposure and risk perception of e-cigarette use.

Results

Youth respondents with more social media use were more likely to be exposed to e-cigarette advertisement at Wave 2 (OR = 1.13, p < 0.001), which led to lower e-cigarette risk perception at Wave 3 (β = -0.07, p < 0.001). Higher e-cigarette risk perception at Wave 3 resulted in lower likelihood of e-cigarette use at Wave 4 (OR = 0.57, p < 0.001). High social media use at Wave 2 was directly associated with high likelihood of e-cigarette use at Wave 4 (OR = 1.11, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The results indicate that social media use is associated with increased e-cigarette use through online e-cigarette advertisement exposure and subsequently decreased e-cigarette risk perception among U.S. youth. Our findings underscore the importance of regulating online e-cigarette advertisement, with the emphasis of avoiding information that could twist youth’s risk perception of e-cigarettes, which may in turn curtail youth e-cigarette use.

中文翻译：

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美国年轻人中的社交媒体和电子烟的使用：关于在线广告曝光和风险感知的作用的纵向证据

目标

先前的研究表明，美国年轻人中社交媒体的使用与电子烟的使用之间存在联系，但人们对它们相互联系的机制知之甚少。这项研究探讨了如何通过在线广告曝光和美国青少年对电子烟的风险感知来联系社交媒体和电子烟的使用。

方法

纳入了《烟草与健康公共评估》研究波2-4（2014-2018年）中12-17岁的年轻人（N = 6,208）。这项研究整合了偶然接触框架和风险感知框架，以指导研究的概念化和变量选择。进行了广义结构方程建模，以研究通过在线电子烟广告曝光和对电子烟使用的风险感知，社交媒体与电子烟使用之间的顺序中介关系。

结果

社交媒体使用量更多的青年受访者更有可能在第2浪中接触电子烟广告（OR = 1.13，p  <0.001），这导致在第3浪中降低了电子烟的风险感知（β  = -0.07，p  <0.001）。在第3浪中较高的电子烟风险感知导致在第4浪中使用电子烟的可能性较低（OR = 0.57，p  <0.001）。在第2浪中，社交媒体的高使用率与在第4浪中使用电子烟的高可能性直接相关（OR = 1.11，p <0.001）。

结论

结果表明，社交媒体的使用与通过在线电子烟广告曝光而增加的电子烟使用量有关，并因此降低了美国年轻人对电子烟的风险感知。我们的发现强调了规范在线电子烟广告的重要性，其重点是避免避免可能扭曲年轻人对电子烟的风险感知的信息，从而可能反过来减少年轻人对电子烟的使用。