Abstract
Purpose: Health care providers (HCP) are uniquely positioned to advise against electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, potentially influencing youth perceptions of e-cigarette harms. However, research examining these associations is scant. We examined whether HCP e-cigarette-related advice is associated with youth e-cigarette harm perceptions. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: National Youth Tobacco Survey data (2022). Subjects: 21,254 youth aged 9-18 years. Measures: E-cigarette harm perceptions (i.e., relative addictiveness, occasional use harm, and secondhand e-cigarette aerosol (SHA) harm) and HCP advice to abstain from using e-cigarettes (yes/no) were assessed. Analysis: Adjusted odds ratios were estimated using multinomial logistic regression models. Results: Among the sample, 33.9% perceived e-cigarettes as equally addictive to cigarettes, 39.9% perceived occasional e-cigarette use to cause a lot of harm, and 23.3% perceived SHA to cause a lot of harm. Youth who received HCP advice had higher odds of perceiving e-cigarettes as more addictive than cigarettes (OR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.35-2.00) and causing a lot of harm (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.16-1.90). Youth who received HCP advice had higher odds of perceiving SHA causing little harm (OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.04-1.44). Conclusion: HCP advice was associated with youth e-cigarette harm perceptions and perceptions that SHA causes little harm. HCP e-cigarette counseling may help inform understanding of harms, which may reduce or prevent use.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 450-460 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | American Journal of Health Promotion |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2024.
Funding
This research was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI) and the Center for Tobacco Products (U54HL120163) and the American Heart Association (20YVNR35500014). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health, the Food & Drug Administration, or the American Heart Association. The funding sponsors had no role in study design; data collection, analyses, or interpretation; manuscript preparation; or the decision to publish the results. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Tobacco Products (U54HL120163) and the American Heart Association (20YVNR35500014). The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Tobacco Products (U54HL120163) and the American Heart Association (20YVNR35500014). This research was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI) and the Center for Tobacco Products (U54HL120163) and the American Heart Association (20YVNR35500014). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health, the Food & Drug Administration, or the American Heart Association. The funding sponsors had no role in study design; data collection, analyses, or interpretation; manuscript preparation; or the decision to publish the results.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Blood Pressure Program | |
| U.S. Food and Drug Administration | |
| Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) | U54HL120163 |
| Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) | |
| American the American Heart Association | 20YVNR35500014 |
| American the American Heart Association |
Keywords
- e-cigarettes
- harm perceptions
- health care provider advice
- tobacco
- youth
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
