Association Between Social Media Use and Vaping Among Florida Adolescents, 2019

INTRODUCTION: With the growing popularity of vaping, evidence has emerged about the association between social media use and vaping among adolescents, possibly because of the proliferation of e-cigarette advertisements and other related content on social media. Our study examined the association between social media use and vaping among adolescents. METHODS: Using data from the 2019 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (N = 10,776), we conducted logistic regression models on adolescent vaping status (experimental and current vaping) by nondaily and daily use of social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, controlling for other confounders. RESULTS: Use of all 4 selected social media platforms was significantly associated with vaping status (P <.001 for all). Once jointly analyzed, daily use of Instagram was significantly associated with increased relative risks of experimental (adjusted relative risk ratio [aRRR] = 1.76; 95% CI, 1.38–2.25) and current vaping (aRRR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.16–1.95); nondaily use of Snapchat was significantly associated with increased relative risk of experimental (aRRR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.17–2.10) and current vaping (aRRR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.31–2.66); daily use of Snapchat was associated with increased relative risk of experimental (aRRR = 2.38; 95% CI, 1.85–3.08) and current vaping (aRRR = 5.09; 95% CI, 3.78–6.86); nondaily use of Facebook was associated with increased relative risk of current vaping (aRRR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.00–1.43), and nondaily use of Twitter was associated with increased relative risk of current vaping (aRRR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.07–1.56). CONCLUSION: Multilevel efforts are warranted to monitor social media use and vaping status among adolescents, including media use monitoring plans, developing counter-marketing campaigns, and strict regulatory action on social media.