Identifying and Addressing the Effects of Social Media Use on Young Adults' E-Cigarette Use: A Solutions-Oriented Approach

PROJECT SUMMARY The overall goals of this K01 Mentored Career Development Award are to understand how young adults’ (age 18-25) social media use affects their nicotine vaping and to identify intervention targets that mitigate social media’s impact on vaping. Prevalence of vaping and social media use among young adults have increased in tandem. Exposure to vaping-related social media content is common and is associated with vaping. Intense social media use appears to contribute to young adults’ increased mental health symptoms, which are linked to tobacco product use. This project aims to contribute to scientific understanding of the causal links between social media use and vaping in young adulthood and to explore solutions to reduce young adults’ vaping and improve their mental health. In Study 1, young adults with past-month vaping will report time spent on social media, vaping-related social media content exposure, social comparison on social media, mental health, and vaping behavior. After a 1-month baseline measurement period, they will be randomized to reduce their social media use (incentivized) or use social media as usual for a 3-month experimental period. Longitudinal within- and between-subjects analyses will test relationships between time spent on social media, risk factors for vaping, and vaping behavior. In Study 2, young adults will participate in focus groups exploring intervention strategies for reducing social media use and vaping and improving their mental health. Potential intervention targets will include any significant risk factors for vaping identified in Study 1. Specific research aims are to: (1) investigate the relationships between a reduction in social media use and: a) vaping content exposure, b) social comparison, and c) mental health; (2) examine whether reducing social media use reduces past-month vaping days, vaping episodes per vaping day, and puffs per vaping episode; and (3) explore digital intervention strategies for reducing young adults’ social media use and vaping. At the University of Southern California, the candidate will pursue the following training aims: (1) to develop expertise in young adults’ behavioral health; (2) to learn and employ longitudinal statistical modeling to analyze relationships between social media activity, vaping, and mental health; and (3) to use qualitative data to inform the development of health behavior intervention strategies in a digital context. This project will support the candidate’s development as an independent investigator with expertise in digital and behavioral health.