The Vaping Teenager: Understanding the Psychographics and Interests of Adolescent Vape Users to Inform Health Communication Campaigns

BACKGROUND: Adolescent vaping continues to rise, yet little is known about teen vape users beyond demographics. Effective intervention requires a deeper understanding of the psychographics and interests of adolescent vape users to facilitate targeted communication campaigns. METHODS: We analyzed the 2017-2018 weighted cross-sectional online survey data from Virginia high school students (N = 1594) to identify and describe subgroups of adolescents who vaped. Participants reported 30-day vape use, identification with 5 peer crowds (Alternative, Country, Hip Hop, Mainstream, Popular), social prioritization, agreement with personal values statements, social media and smartphone use, and television and event preferences. We compared vaping rates and frequency by peer crowd using a chi-square analysis with follow-up testing to identify higher-risk crowds and confirmed associations using binary and multinomial logistic regression models with peer crowd scores predicting vaping, controlling for demographics. We then used chi-square and t tests to describe the psychographics, media use, and interests of higher-risk peer crowds and current vape users within those crowds. RESULTS: Any current vaping was the highest among those with Hip Hop peer crowd identification (25.4%), then Popular (21.3%). Stronger peer crowd identification was associated with increased odds of any current vaping for both crowds, vaping on 1 to 19 days for both crowds, and vaping on 20 to 30 days for Hip Hop only. Compared with other peer crowds and non-users, Hip Hop and Popular youth and current vape users reported greater social prioritization and agreement with values related to being social and fashionable. Hip Hop and Popular youth and current vape users reported heavy Instagram and Snapchat use, as well as unique television show and event preferences. CONCLUSIONS: Hip Hop and Popular adolescents are most likely to vape and should be priority audiences for vaping prevention campaigns. Findings should guide the development of targeted health communication campaigns delivered via carefully designed media strategies.