This study examined the effect of message source credibility on e-cigarette harm perceptions among U.S. young adults. An online experimental study was conducted where young adults (n = 302, Mage = 23.7) were randomized to an e-cigarette public health education message from an expert or a peer young adult. Then, participants answered questions about their perceptions about the message source and e-cigarettes. Results suggest that young adults rated experts as a more credible source (vs. peer) (b = −0.39, SE = 0.15, 95% CI [−0.67, −0.10], p < 0.01). Young adults reported greater perceived credibility of the expert message (vs. peer), which was associated with increased e-cigarette harm perceptions. Increased perceived source credibility mediated the association of increased e-cigarette absolute harm perceptions from viewing an expert message (b = −0.11, SE = 0.04, 95% CI: −0.20, −0.02). Source credibility should be considered when designing e-cigarette education messages for young adults.

Youth have been the focus of electronic vapor product (EVP) prevention efforts though young adults had similar increases in current EVP use from 2015–2019. This study tested messages to reduce EVP use in young adults. Eight messages on vaping related harms and addictiveness combined with themes on social use and flavors were selected for inclusion in an online randomized controlled trial. Vermont young adults aged 18–24 (n = 569) were randomized to view the eight vaping prevention messages (n = 295) or eight messages on sun safety (n = 274). After completing baseline measures, participants viewed study messages and completed measures on message perceptions and perceived message effectiveness (PME), EVP-related beliefs, and EVP-related harm perceptions. Participants completed EVP-related beliefs and harm perception measures again at 1-month follow-up, as well as measures on tobacco and EVP-related behavioral intentions and behavior (ever and past 30-day use). Intervention participants reported positive impacts on vaping-related message responses. However, findings suggested no effect of vaping prevention messages on EVP-related beliefs, harm perceptions, or behaviors in the full sample. Exploratory analyses in the intervention condition showed that greater PME was associated with lower odds to intent to try cigarettes in the next year at follow-up.

The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral and sociodemographic factors associated with intentions to engage with anti-vaping Instagram posts among a young adult population. This study proposes the following research questions: (1) Does e-cigarette use status influence intentions to engage with anti-vaping Instagram posts?, and (2) How are e-cigarette use and social media use associated? We recruited a convenience sample of young adults (N = 459; aged 18–30 years) in July of 2022 into an online experimental study from Prolific. Participants saw five image-based Instagram posts about the health harms of using e-cigarettes. Participants were then asked about their intentions to engage (“Comment on”, “Reshare”, “DM/Send this to a friend”, “Like”, and/or “Take a screenshot of”) with the posts. We used logistic regression to run adjusted models for each engagement outcome, which included fixed effects for sociodemographics, tobacco use, and social media/internet use. For the sum of the engagement outcome, we used Poisson regression. Total number of social media sites used was associated with intentions to “Like” the posts (p = 0.025) and the overall engagement score (p = 0.019), respectively. Daily internet use was associated with intentions to “Comment on” (p = 0.016) and “Like” (p = 0.019) the posts. Young adults who reported past 30-day e-cigarette use had higher odds of using Twitter (p = 0.013) and TikTok (p < 0.001), and a higher total number of social media sites used (p = 0.046), compared to young adults who reported never use e-cigarettes. The initial evidence from our exploratory research using a convenience sample suggests that social media campaigns about the harms of e-cigarette use may be an effective way to engage younger audiences, a generation that frequents social media. Efforts to disseminate social media campaigns should consider launching on multiple platforms, such as Twitter and TikTok, and consider e-cigarette use status when posting.

Background: The current study examined how cannabis use status impacts cognitive and emotional reactions to public health campaigns about cannabis, and the degree to which these reactions influence message likeability and attitudes about cannabis-related harms. Methods: In a between-subjects design, 252 subjects recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk viewed six real-world cannabis education messages: three message themes (cognitive ability, driving, and health harms) from each of two real-world public campaigns. Subjects answered questions measuring their cognitive and emotional reactions to each message as well as message likeability and harm perceptions of cannabis. Analyses examined the mediating effects of message responsiveness on the association between baseline cannabis use (user vs non-user) with indices of liking and harm. Results: For all three message themes, informativeness ratings mediated the effect of cannabis user status on the outcomes of perceived harmfulness and message likeability. Specifically, cannabis users perceived cannabis as less harmful and reported all messages as less likeable compared to non-users, partly because they perceived the messages to be less informative than non-users. Surprisingly, users found some of the messages to be more pleasant, which was associated with increased perceptions of harm and message liking compared to non-users. Conclusions: Cannabis education campaigns that take into account differences in emotional and cognitive reactions by use experience, rather than use a “one size fits all” approach, could possibly maximally impact likeability and harm perceptions of these messages.

Background: Waterpipe (i.e., hookah) tobacco smoking (WTS) is one of the most prevalent types of smoking among young people, yet there is little public education communicating the risks of WTS to the population. Using self-report and psychophysiological measures, this study proposes an innovative message testing and data integration approach to choose optimal content for health communication messaging focusing on WTS. Methods: In a two-part study, we tested 12 WTS risk messages. Using crowdsourcing, participants (N = 713) rated WTS messages based on self-reported receptivity, engagement, attitudes, and negative emotions. In an in-lab study, participants (N = 120) viewed the 12 WTS risk messages while being monitored for heart rate and eye-tracking, and then completed a recognition task. Using a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) model, we integrated data from these two methods with scenarios assigning different weights to the self-report and laboratory data to identify optimal messages. Results: We identified different optimal messages when differently weighting the importance of specific attributes or data collection method (self-report, laboratory). Across all scenarios, five messages consistently ranked in the top half: four addressed harms content, both alone and with themes regarding social use and flavors and one addiction alone message. Discussion: Results showed that the self-report and psychophysiological data did not always have the same ranking and differed based on weighting of the two methods. These findings highlight the need to formatively test messages using multiple methods and use an integrated approach when selecting content.