Adolescents and Young Adults Use of Social Media and Following of e-Cigarette Influencers

Bibliographic Data

ID21645181
AuthorsJuhan Lee (0000-0003-0860-3327, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, corresponding author), Rachel R Ouellette (0000-0001-6982-0830, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA), Meghan E Morean (0000-0003-4865-1155, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA), Grace Kong (0000-0002-9269-3435, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA)
Year2024
Volume59
Issue9
Pages1424-1430
Publication date2024-07-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSubstance Use & Misuse (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1082-6084 • E-ISSN: 1532-2491
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10826084.2024.2352620
PMID38755112
OpenAlexW4397020350
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited26

Background With high rates of both e-cigarette and social media use among adolescents and young adults (AYAs), social media influencers who promote e-cigarettes are particularly concerning but are understudied. We examined the association between AYAs’ use of 11 different social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube) and exposure to social media e-cigarette influencers.Objectives From November 2022 to February 2023, we conducted an online, US national survey of AYAs (14–29 years) who endorsed past-30-day e-cigarette use. We used binomial logistic regression to examine associations between the frequency of use of each social media platform and following e-cigarette influencers, controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, e-cigarette use frequency, and other tobacco and substance use (i.e., alcohol and cannabis). The model was stratified by adolescents (14–17 years; n = 293) and young adults (18–29 years; n = 654).Results The most frequently used social media platforms were Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram among adolescents, and YouTube, Instagram and TikTok among young adults. In adjusted models, following e-cigarette influencers was associated with more frequent use of TikTok (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]; 1.33 [1.05, 1.68]) and Pinterest (1.18 [1.02, 1.38]) among adolescents, and more frequent use of Twitter (1.17 [1.06, 1.29]) among young adults.Conclusions The use of different platforms was associated with exposure to e-cigarette influencers: TikTok and Pinterest among adolescents and Twitter among young adults. These findings can inform tobacco regulatory policy and social media platform restrictions of e-cigarette influencers on the platforms that are popular among AYAs

Business · Developmental psychology · Influencer marketing · Social media · Young adult · Computer Science · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Smoking Behavior and Cessation · Social Media in Health Education

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