Vassey Julia, Vogel Erin A, Unger Jennifer B, Cho Junhan, Bae Dayoung, Donaldson Scott I, Allem Jon-Patrick
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
TSET Health Promotion Research Center, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, USA.
Tob Control. 2025 Feb 13. doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-059021.
Pairing e-cigarettes with healthy lifestyle contexts in influencers' promotional social media posts may increase e-cigarette use risk among young adults. This study examined the effects of e-cigarette and healthy lifestyle content on young adults' perceptions of influencer credibility, harm perceptions of, and susceptibility to use, e-cigarettes.
In this survey-based online, repeated-measures experiment (2023), California young adults (N=1494, M=23 (SD=1.8); 63% female, 51% Hispanic) were randomly shown 10 (total) Instagram and TikTok videos, featuring influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside healthy lifestyle activities (experimental group), or a healthy lifestyle activity alone (control). After watching each video, participants rated perceived influencer credibility (eg, honesty). After watching all videos, harm perceptions of e-cigarettes were assessed among all participants and susceptibility to e-cigarette use was assessed among e-cigarette never-users. Harm perceptions and susceptibility outcomes were compared between groups (experimental vs control) and between participants who perceived influencers as credible versus non-credible, using binomial generalised linear mixed effects models.
Participants in the experimental group were more likely to report lower harm perceptions (adjusted OR (AOR) 1.12; 95% CI 1.03; 1.21) and higher susceptibility to e-cigarette use (AOR 1.22, 95% CI 1.11; 1.34), than participants in the control condition. Similar results were found when influencers were perceived as credible, but not when they were perceived as non-credible.
Social media influencers' posts promoting e-cigarette use along with healthy activities may contribute to young adult e-cigarette use. Decreasing perceived credibility of influencers could decrease the negative effects of their promotional posts.
NCT06433466.
在有影响力者的促销社交媒体帖子中将电子烟与健康的生活方式背景相结合，可能会增加年轻人使用电子烟的风险。本研究考察了电子烟和健康生活方式内容对年轻人对有影响力者可信度的认知、对电子烟危害的认知以及使用电子烟易感性的影响。
在这项基于调查的在线重复测量实验（2023年）中，加利福尼亚州的年轻人（N = 1494，M = 23（标准差 = 1.8）；63%为女性，51%为西班牙裔）被随机展示10个（共）Instagram和TikTok视频，视频中要么是有影响力者在推广电子烟的同时展示健康的生活方式活动（实验组），要么仅展示健康的生活方式活动（对照组）。观看每个视频后，参与者对有影响力者的可信度（如诚实度）进行评分。观看所有视频后，对所有参与者评估对电子烟危害的认知，并对从未使用过电子烟的参与者评估使用电子烟的易感性。使用二项式广义线性混合效应模型比较两组（实验组与对照组）之间以及认为有影响力者可信与不可信的参与者之间的危害认知和易感性结果。
与对照组的参与者相比，实验组的参与者更更更报告较低危害认知（调整后的比值比（AOR）为1.12；95%置信区间为1.03；1.21）和较高使用电子烟易感性（AOR为1.22，95%置信区间为1.11；1.34）的可能性更大。当有影响力者被认为可信时也发现了类似结果，但当他们被认为不可信时则没有。
社交媒体有影响力者在推广电子烟使用的同时展示健康活动的帖子可能会促使年轻人使用电子烟。降低对有影响力者的可信度认知可能会减少他们促销帖子的负面影响。
NCT06433466。
