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Vogel EA, Barrington-Trimis JL, Vassey J, Soto D, Unger JB. Young Adults' Exposure to and Engagement With Tobacco-Related Social Media Content and Subsequent Tobacco Use. Nicotine Tob Res 2024; 26:S3-S12. [PMID: 38366337 PMCID: PMC10873498 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntad108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Nicotine/tobacco social media content may increase young people's risk for use. This study examined prospective associations between exposure to and engagement with nicotine/tobacco-related social media content and nicotine/tobacco use among young adults. AIMS AND METHODS Young adults (N = 2080) originally recruited from Southern California high schools for a prospective cohort study reported frequency of viewing and posting nicotine/tobacco content on four social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube). Participants also reported frequency of seeing nicotine/tobacco posts from friends, seeing nicotine/tobacco posts from influencers or celebrities, and liking nicotine/tobacco posts. Within subsamples of nicotine/tobacco never users (n = 794), past users (n = 897) and current users (n = 389), analyses examined associations of baseline (May-October 2020) social media content exposure and engagement with follow-up (January-June 2021) tobacco use initiation (among never users), resumption (among past users), and continuation (among current users), adjusting for sociodemographic and socioenvironmental characteristics. RESULTS Never users who saw nicotine/tobacco posts from friends (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 2.91 [95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.46, 5.82], p = .002) or from celebrities or influencers (AOR = 2.77 [1.32, 5.84], p = .007) were significantly more likely to initiate nicotine/tobacco use than their peers. Among past users, posting nicotine/tobacco content at baseline was associated with use resumption (AOR = 1.77 [1.12, 2.80], p = .014). Content exposure and engagement were not associated with nicotine/tobacco use continuation among current users (p-values > .05). CONCLUSIONS Seeing nicotine/tobacco posts from friends, influencers, or celebrities was associated with greater odds of tobacco use initiation, but not resumption or continuation, 6 months later. Young adults with past nicotine/tobacco use who post about nicotine/tobacco may be at elevated risk for resuming use. IMPLICATIONS Young adults with exposure to nicotine/tobacco social media content were more likely than their peers to initiate nicotine/tobacco use 6 months later. Past nicotine/tobacco users who reported posting about nicotine/tobacco on social media at baseline were more likely than their peers to resume nicotine/tobacco use. Among young adults with current nicotine/tobacco use at baseline, social media activity did not predict odds of nicotine/tobacco use continuation at follow-up. Nicotine/tobacco content on social media should be restricted to reduce young people's chances of nicotine/tobacco use initiation or resumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin A Vogel
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jessica L Barrington-Trimis
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Julia Vassey
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Soto
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer B Unger
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Rhee JU, Huang Y, Soroosh AJ, Alsudais S, Ni S, Kumar A, Paredes J, Li C, Timberlake DS. The Marketing and Perceptions of Non-Tobacco Blunt Wraps on Twitter. Subst Use Misuse 2024; 59:469-477. [PMID: 37982451 DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2023.2280572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Non-tobacco blunt wraps (N-TBWs), which entered the marketplace in 2017, are being promoted as an alternative to traditional TBWs (e.g., cigarillos) for blunt smoking. The lack of studies on these novel products warrants an investigation. This study was the first to explore blunt smokers' perceptions about N-TBWs and the extent of product marketing on Twitter. METHODS A corpus of tweets from Twitter, posted between January 2017 and November 2021, were identified by a Boolean search string (N = 149,343), where 48,695 tweets were classified as relevant by a machine learning algorithm. These relevant tweets were further screened and labeled as promotional or organic based on product URLs, usernames, keywords, or hashtags. Topic modeling using Dirichlet Allocation was then employed for identifying latent patterns of words among relevant tweets. The Social Networking Potential (SNP) score was employed for identifying influential accounts. RESULTS Most relevant tweets (89%) were organic, non-promotional expressions about N-TBWs. Account users who only posted non-promotional tweets had a significantly higher SNP than those who only posted promotional tweets. Yet, neither of the two groups of account users consisted of known celebrities. Topic modeling revealed three broad groups of topics (7 in total) denoting the attributes of hemp N-TBWs, interest in non-hemp N-TBWs, and product marketing. CONCLUSIONS The large proportion of organic tweets is indicative of the nascency of N-TBWs, which will need to be marketed more extensively if they are to replace cigar products used by blunt smokers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua U Rhee
- Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Yicong Huang
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | | | - Sadeem Alsudais
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Shengquan Ni
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Avinash Kumar
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Jacob Paredes
- Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Chen Li
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - David S Timberlake
- Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
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Kreslake JM, Mills S, Liu M, Diaz MC, Kostygina G, Emery S, Hair EC. Youth and Young Adult Blunt Use Predicts Progression to Other Nicotine Product Use in the United States. Subst Use Misuse 2023; 59:263-268. [PMID: 37881835 PMCID: PMC10766086 DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2023.2269561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Little cigars or cigarillos (LCCs) are frequently modified to smoke cannabis ("blunts") by youth and young adults. This study investigated whether young blunt users who are otherwise nicotine-naïve are more likely to initiate other tobacco products compared to never blunt users. METHODS AND MATERIALS Data were from four waves of the Truth Longitudinal Cohort (TLC), a national probability-based sample of youth and young adults (aged 15-24 years) in the United States (Wave 1: January-April 2017; Wave 2: February-May 2018; Wave 3: February-May 2019; Wave 4: September-December 2019). The sample was restricted to nicotine naïve respondents at Wave 1 with possible ever use of blunts (N = 5,284). Logistic regression analyses tested whether ever blunt use at Wave 1 predicted initiation of nicotine products by Wave 4, controlling for established risk factors. RESULTS Compared to never-blunt users, ever users of blunts at Wave 1 had significantly higher odds of ever using cigars (OR: 4.74; 95% CI: 1.80-12.47; p = 0.002), e-cigarettes (OR: 4.66; 95% CI: 2.42-8.95; p < 0.001), cigarettes (OR: 3.02; 95% CI: 1.17-7.84, p = 0.023), or hookah (OR: 3.47; 95% CI: 1.07-11.29, p = 0.039) by Wave 4. Cannabis (never blunt) use by Wave 1 predicted ever use of e-cigarettes (OR: 3.45, 95% CI: 2.38-5.02, p < 0.001), cigarettes (OR: 3.81; 95% CI: 2.26-6.43, p < 0.001), or hookah (OR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.12-4.05, p = 0.021) by Wave 4. DISCUSSION Blunts are a point of nicotine initiation that places users at increased risk of progression to cigars, while the same relationship was not found for cannabis alone.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah Mills
- Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Michael Liu
- Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Megan C Diaz
- Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | - Sherry Emery
- NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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Osborn CC, Pike Moore S, Machta A, Trapl E. Backwoods cigars release 'California Range' of products with concept flavour names. Tob Control 2023:tc-2023-058292. [PMID: 37914388 PMCID: PMC11061264 DOI: 10.1136/tc-2023-058292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Crawford Osborn
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Stephanie Pike Moore
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - April Machta
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Erika Trapl
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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Vassey J, Donaldson S, Dormanesh A, Allem JP. THEMES IN TIKTOK VIDEOS FEATURING LITTLE CIGARS AND CIGARILLOS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS (Preprint). J Med Internet Res 2022; 24:e42441. [DOI: 10.2196/42441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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Manganello JA, Kane C, Roberts K, Klein EG, McAdams RJ, McKenzie LB. A Year of Child Injury Prevention on Instagram. JOURNAL OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2021; 26:636-644. [PMID: 34632948 DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2021.1985658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Injury is the leading cause of death for children but little is known about what types of injury prevention messages are communicated on Instagram. Conducted in the United States, the aim of this study was to better understand child injury prevention messages on Instagram to develop recommendations for the future. Informed by Social Cognitive Theory, a quantitative content analysis was conducted on all Instagram posts from selected organizations from May 2018 through April 2019. Of the 818 injury prevention posts, almost all included an image (575, 70%) or video (211, 26%). Of the 575 images, 245 (42.46%) had in image that did not match the topic of the post. Regarding injury prevention recommendations, 579 posts (71%) provided a clear action that parents should take. For these posts, 115 (20%) had an image that communicated the desired safety recommendation, but many more (285, 50%) did not; in 23 cases it was not clear if there was a match or not. There are missed opportunities for child health and injury organizations to reach parents and caregivers through Instagram. Posts made during the study period often lacked specificity about action-oriented measures and failed to utilize images that demonstrated the recommended practices. Organizations posting on Instagram and other social media platforms should provide clear action tips and utilize images that depict child injury prevention recommendations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Manganello
- School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy Management, and Behavior, University at Albany, One University Place, New York, USA
| | - Cassandra Kane
- School of Public Health, University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York, USA
| | - Kristin Roberts
- Center for Injury Research and Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | | | - Rebecca J McAdams
- Center for Injury Research and Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Lara B McKenzie
- Center for Injury Research and Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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