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Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California

Research suggests that Black youth are less likely to use e-cigarettes than their white counterparts, yet little is known as to why. We examined perceptions of e-cigarettes among Black young adults (ages 18–25) to explore the meanings these youth ascribe to e-cigarettes and the role that identity pl...

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Autores principales: Hess, Catherine A., Antin, Tamar M. J., Annechino, Rachelle, Hunt, Geoffrey
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085031
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010060
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author Hess, Catherine A.
Antin, Tamar M. J.
Annechino, Rachelle
Hunt, Geoffrey
author_facet Hess, Catherine A.
Antin, Tamar M. J.
Annechino, Rachelle
Hunt, Geoffrey
author_sort Hess, Catherine A.
collection PubMed
description Research suggests that Black youth are less likely to use e-cigarettes than their white counterparts, yet little is known as to why. We examined perceptions of e-cigarettes among Black young adults (ages 18–25) to explore the meanings these youth ascribe to e-cigarettes and the role that identity plays in how these devices are viewed. Analysis of in-depth interviews with 36 Black smokers and non-smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area suggests that Black youth perceive e-cigarettes as serving distinct, yet overlapping roles: a utilitarian function, in that they are recognized as legitimate smoking cessation tools, and a social function, insofar as they serve to mark social identity, specifically a social identity from which our participants disassociated. Participants described e-cigarette users in highly racialized and classed terms and generally expressed disinterest in using e-cigarettes, due in part perhaps to the fact that use of these devices would signal alignment with a middle class, hipster identity. This analysis is discussed within a highly charged political and public health debate about the benefits and harms associated with e-cigarette use.
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spelling pubmed-52953112017-02-07 Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California Hess, Catherine A. Antin, Tamar M. J. Annechino, Rachelle Hunt, Geoffrey Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Research suggests that Black youth are less likely to use e-cigarettes than their white counterparts, yet little is known as to why. We examined perceptions of e-cigarettes among Black young adults (ages 18–25) to explore the meanings these youth ascribe to e-cigarettes and the role that identity plays in how these devices are viewed. Analysis of in-depth interviews with 36 Black smokers and non-smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area suggests that Black youth perceive e-cigarettes as serving distinct, yet overlapping roles: a utilitarian function, in that they are recognized as legitimate smoking cessation tools, and a social function, insofar as they serve to mark social identity, specifically a social identity from which our participants disassociated. Participants described e-cigarette users in highly racialized and classed terms and generally expressed disinterest in using e-cigarettes, due in part perhaps to the fact that use of these devices would signal alignment with a middle class, hipster identity. This analysis is discussed within a highly charged political and public health debate about the benefits and harms associated with e-cigarette use. MDPI 2017-01-11 2017-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5295311/ /pubmed/28085031 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010060 Text en © 2017 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hess, Catherine A.
Antin, Tamar M. J.
Annechino, Rachelle
Hunt, Geoffrey
Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title_full Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title_fullStr Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title_short Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California
title_sort perceptions of e-cigarettes among black youth in california
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28085031
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010060
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