E-cigarette Marketing Exposure and Subsequent Experimentation Among Youth and Young Adults

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) Vol. 144; no. 5; p. 1
• Main Authors: Chen-Sankey, Julia Cen, Unger, Jennifer B, Bansal-Travers, Maansi, Niederdeppe, Jeff, Bernat, Edward, Choi, Kelvin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Academy of Pediatrics 01-11-2019
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Cigarettes; Confidence intervals; Electronic cigarettes; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - statistics & numerical data; Experimentation; Exposure; Female; Humans; Male; Market strategy; Marketing; Pediatrics; Smoking; Statistical analysis; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tobacco; United States - epidemiology; Vaping - epidemiology; Young Adult; Young adults; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.2019-1119

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become increasingly prevalent among US youth and young adults in recent years. Exposure to e-cigarette marketing may stimulate e-cigarette use. In this study, we estimated the longitudinal association between e-cigarette marketing exposure and e-cigarette experimentation among US youth and young adult never tobacco users.
The analysis included nationally representative samples of youth (ages 12-17;
= 8121) and young adult (ages 18-24;
= 1683) never tobacco users from wave 2 (2014-2015) and wave 3 (2015-2016) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. In the study, researchers measured past-month exposure to e-cigarette marketing through various places (eg, Web sites and events) at wave 2 and e-cigarette experimentation at wave 3. Statistical analysis included multivariable regressions to examine the associations between wave 2 e-cigarette marketing exposure and wave 3 e-cigarette experimentation.
At wave 2, 70.7% of youth and 73.9% of young adult never tobacco users reported past-month exposure to e-cigarette marketing; at wave 3, 4.9% and 4.5% of youth and young adults experimented with e-cigarettes, respectively. Youth and young adults exposed to e-cigarette marketing at wave 2 were more likely (adjusted odds ratio = 1.53, 95% confidence interval = 1.07-2.17; and adjusted odds ratio = 2.73, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-6.42, respectively) to have experimented with e-cigarettes at wave 3 than those not exposed. Marketing exposure through each place at wave 2 was associated with e-cigarette experimentation at wave 3.
E-cigarette marketing exposure predicted subsequent e-cigarette experimentation among youth and young adult never tobacco users. Increased restrictions on marketing through various channels may help minimize their exposure to e-cigarette marketing messages.