Association Between Exposure to E-Cigarette Content Across 10 Social Media Sites and Youth E-Cigarette Use

Social media use is associated with youth vaping and susceptibility, but the relationship is not well-understood. We investigated the association between exposure to e-cigarette-related content on 10 social media sites and e-cigarette susceptibility/use via multinomial logistic regression. The analytic sample comprised 1863 students from 2 Connecticut high schools who completed an anonymous survey in 2020. Compared to youth who were not susceptible to e-cigarette use, those who were susceptible, had used e-cigarettes in their past, or currently using e-cigarettes endorsed significantly higher social media use. While exposure to e-cigarette content on most social media sites was positively associated with susceptibly to e-cigarettes and their use, it was negatively associated with e-cigarette use on one social media site. Further studies should examine the content of social media ads and posts to better understand their respective effects on youth vaping. This can inform marketing regulations and development of youth vaping prevention programs.