Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Background Public education exposing cigarette industry practices have been effective in changing attitudes and preventing smoking among young people. It is unclear how much young adults are aware of e-cigarette industry practices, and how this awareness relates to anti-e-cigarette attitudes. We examined demographic correlates of awareness of e-cigarette industry practices and anti-e-cigarette attitudes, and the association between awareness of these practices with anti-e-cigarette attitudes.
Methods A US sample of young adults aged 18–30 years who do not use commercial tobacco products but are susceptible to e-cigarette use were cross-sectionally surveyed through online panel services from August 2021 to January 2022. Respondents reported their demographics, awareness of cigarette industry practices, awareness of e-cigarette industry practices and their level of agreement with four anti-e-cigarette attitude statements. We used multivariable linear regressions to examine demographic associations and the relationship between awareness of e-cigarette industry practices with each anti-e-cigarette attitude, adjusting for demographics and awareness of cigarette industry practices.
Results Generally, Hispanic and Black young adults (vs White) and those with <US$75 000 annual household income (vs ≥US$75 000) knew of fewer e-cigarette industry practices. Black young adults (vs White) and those with <US$75 000 annual household income (vs ≥US$75,000) also had lower levels of agreement with anti-e-cigarette attitudes. Awareness of e-cigarette industry practices (vs awareness of zero practices) were associated with stronger agreement with each of the four anti-e-cigarette attitudes.
Discussion Public education exposing e-cigarette industry practices may promote anti-e-cigarette attitudes among susceptible young adults who do not use commercial tobacco products. Future research should investigate the utility of anti-e-cigarette industry messaging.
- Prevention
- Electronic nicotine delivery devices
- Denormalization
Data availability statement
Data are not publicly available. The data sets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the proprietary nature of the data but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
Data are not publicly available. The data sets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the proprietary nature of the data but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Footnotes
Twitter @liliannaphan
Contributors LP and KC contributed equally to conceptualising the study design, data analysis and interpretation of findings. LP drafted the initial manuscript, led data analysis, and is responsible for the overall content as guarantor. KC supervised, reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors provided critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Funding This research was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Division of Intramural Research (NIMHD DIR), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (FDA CTP). LP was supported by the NIH FIRST Program (U54CA267735), with funding support from the Office of Director (OD), NIH and the Pathway to Independence Award in Tobacco Regulatory Research by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH/FDA (R00CA272919). NIMHD DIR and NIH/FDA had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The content was not reviewed by the FDA but underwent the standard manuscript clearance process for scientific papers published from the NIH Intramural Research Program.
Disclaimer The content, opinions and comments expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the US Government, Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Competing interests No, there are no competing interests.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.