A Toxic Blend: Assessing the Effects of Cross-Source Media Coverage of Flavored E-Cigarettes on Youth and Young Adult Perceptions

Communicative Processes Underlying DIY eJuice Mixing Among Young Adult International ENDS Users

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is increasing around the world, with contemporary trends outpacing scientific understanding of the health implications. Such trends include do-it-yourself eJuice mixing (DIY eJuice), which involves the unregulated homemade mixing of fogging agents, nicotine salts, and flavorants to create personalized liquid for ENDS products. The purpose of this study was to employ a grounded theory approach to gather formative data on the communicative processes surrounding the behavior of DIY eJuice mixing among international, young adult ENDS users. Participants were recruited locally for mini focus group discussions via SONA (n = 4) and internationally for an open-ended survey via Prolific (n = 138). Questions explored experiences with the online DIY eJuice community, motivations for mixing, information seeking strategies, flavor preferences, and perceived benefits of mixing. Thematic analysis and flow sketching revealed the underlying processes of social cognitive theory to explain the communicative processes of DIY eJuice mixing behaviors. Specifically, environmental determinants emerged in the form of online and social influences; personal determinants in the form of curiosity and control; and behavioral determinants following a benefits/barriers analysis, particularly regarding cost. These findings provide theoretical implications for the role of health communication constructs in understanding contemporary trends in ENDS use and practical implications for tobacco prevention messaging and tobacco control regulations.

Scanned information exposure and support for tobacco regulations among US youth and young adult tobacco product users and non-users

The influences of information exposure on youth and young adults' (YYA) support for smoking/vaping regulations have been understudied. This study examines (i) the relationships between routine exposure to (i.e. scanning) anti-smoking/pro-vaping information and YYA support for anti-smoking/vaping regulations and (ii) whether these relationships differ across YYA users and non-users of tobacco products. We analyzed the data from a nationally representative two-wave rolling cross-sectional survey of YYA in the United States, collected from 2014 to 2017 (baseline n = 10 642; follow-up n = 4001). Less than 5% of the participants ever scanned pro-smoking and anti-vaping information. Scanning anti-smoking information had significant positive relationships with support for all anti-smoking policies cross-sectionally, and this pattern was longitudinally significant in two anti-smoking policy contexts. Scanning pro-vaping information had significant negative associations with support for anti-vaping policies cross-sectionally, but not longitudinally. The lagged positive relationships between scanning anti-smoking information and support for anti-smoking regulations were stronger among YYA smokers than among YYA non-smokers, whereas evidence from adult data suggested the opposite pattern. The findings suggest that scanning information can affect YYA support for tobacco regulations. Future efforts are required to investigate mechanisms underlying the influences of scanned information on YYA support for tobacco regulations.

How Can E-Cigarette Fear Appeals Improve the Perceived Threat, Fear, Anger, and Protection Motivation of Young People

The lack of awareness regarding the risks of e-cigarettes and the misleading business propaganda caused an increase in the popularity of e-cigarettes among young people. The effective communication of the risks associated with e-cigarettes is an important part of current work to control their usage, and the use of fear appeals is an effective method to achieve good control. Based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) and Appraisal-Tendency Framework (ATF), this article presents a 2 × 2 control experiment to test the impact of fear appeals on the perception of risk, emotions, and behavioral motivation of young people aged 35 and less. A total of 333 valid samples of adolescents and young adults were included to investigate the different response paths to fear appeals among young people of different age, sex and smoking history. The results show that high-threat, high-efficacy fear appeals are able to: (1) significantly increase young people's perception of the e-cigarette-associated threats, (2) trigger fear and anger amongst young people, and (3) stimulate their self-protection motivation. Fear appeals do not have an impact on young people's perception of efficacy, regardless of their level of threat and efficacy. High fear appeals can also increase young people's perception of threat, which in turn enhances their anger and protection motivation. Furthermore, while this type of fear appeal can enhance young women's perception of efficacy, it cannot enhance the perception of e-cigarette risks in adolescents, young men and young smokers, regardless of their level of threat and efficacy. Young non-smokers have a higher perception of the risks involved in the use of e-cigarettes compared with young smokers.