Family attitude influencial on teenage e-cigarette use: study

According to researchers, a family’s attitude towards a person vaping has a significant effect on a teenager’s decision to smoke an e-ciagrette. It comes close second to advertisements, peers, and the internet.
Published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, the study is one of a few to examine the perception adolescents have of e-cigarettes and where these youth receive information about the products.
In the wake of recent vaping-related illnesses and deaths, teenage perceptions of the products are crucial to guiding the development of interventions, said Eunhee Park, PhD, lead investigator and assistant professor in the UB School of Nursing.
The UB researchers interviewed adolescent users and non-users of e-cigarettes in the Western New York area to learn about their attitudes toward vaping.
"The fact that non-users were particularly concerned about gateway effects could be used in prevention programs to keep them from starting e-cigarette use," said Park.
Participants listed family, advertisements, peers, the internet and social media sites such as Instagram as sources of information about e-cigarettes.
Non-users were more likely to have parents who viewed vaping negatively.
Participants who used e-cigarettes, on the other hand, reported having older siblings who used the products to quit smoking, influencing their perception of e-cigarettes as beneficial and potentially providing easier access to vaping products, revealed Park.
Participants listed family, advertisements, peers, the internet and social media sites such as Instagram as sources of information about e-cigarettes.
Non-users were more likely to have parents who viewed vaping negatively.
Participants who used e-cigarettes, on the other hand, reported having older siblings who used the products to quit smoking, influencing their perception of e-cigarettes as beneficial and potentially providing easier access to vaping products, revealed Park.