Adolescent risk perceptions of ENDS use: Room for change in tobacco education

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) have surpassed combustible cigarettes as the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students, and research shows that youth do not perceive great risk of harm from regular ENDS use. FDA’s public education campaigns help educate youth about the potential risks of using tobacco products and three separate experimental copy testing/ad testing studies (N = 1907) were conducted in support of the FDAs “The Real Cost” (TRC) Cigarette and ENDS Campaigns. These studies provided data for the current investigation which used harm perception items to assess perceived risks of cigarette or ENDS use among adolescents after viewing a public health education advertisement. Eligible youth aged 13–17 who were susceptible, or experimenting, with cigarettes or vaping products were recruited online and randomized into either an ad viewing exposure group, or a non-ad viewing control group. The ads focused on health effects, addiction, or both. Effect sizes on key harm perception measures between groups were computed and standardized to allow for comparisons. Both TRC Cigarette and TRC ENDS ads were able to change harm and addiction perceptions (p < .05); however, effect sizes were significantly larger for items related to health effects for ENDS vs cigarettes (p < .05). When designing youth focused ENDS education campaigns, practitioners should present novel facts in order to take advantage of large effect sizes. Evaluators of early campaign efforts to educate youth about these products may anticipate significant increases in health-related risk perceptions.