Youth Curiosity About Cigarettes, Smokeless Tobacco, and Cigars

Abstract

Despite decreasing use of tobacco products, youth remain curious about them. Curiosity is associated with various forms of tobacco advertising. These findings suggest the importance of measuring curiosity as an early warning signal for potential future tobacco use and evaluating continued efforts to limit exposure to tobacco marketing among youth.

Exposure to Advertisements and Electronic Cigarette Use Among US Middle and High School Students

“…14,15 For example, in a randomized controlled trial, adolescents who viewed e-cigarette TV advertisements were 54% more likely to say they would try an e-cigarette soon, and 43% more likely to say they would try an e-cigarette within the next year, compared with adolescents who were not exposed to the e-cigarette TV advertisements. 5 They also were more likely to agree that e-cigarettes can be used in places where smoking is not allowed.…”

Curiosity and susceptibility to cigarette smoking among cigarette-naïve, waterpipe smoking US youth: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2014

“…Second, boys were less curious about cigarettes than girls in this study. While concerns about weight control may explain why young girls were more curious about cigarettes than boys, other factors such as boys' higher curiosity about alternative tobacco products, cigars and smokeless tobacco as examples, may explain this observation 32 . This study has limitations.…”

“…', with four response options: 'Definitely yes', 'Probably yes', 'Probably not', and 'Definitely not'. Students who answered 'Definitely not' were considered not curious, and curious if answered otherwise 14,17 .…”

“…Covariates included were socio-demographics, current use of other tobacco/nicotine products (electronic cigarettes, cigar/ cigarillo/little cigar, smokeless tobacco), exposure to secondhand smoke/vape, exposure to pro-tobacco ads, receptivity to tobacco marketing, and beliefs about smoking-related harm 13,15,17,18 . Current use of tobacco/nicotine was defined as the use of a tobacco/nicotine product on at least one day during the past 30 days.…”

Discordance between perceived and actual tobacco product use prevalence among US youth: a comparative analysis of electronic and regular cigarettes

“…Curiosity indicates interest, even in the absence of intentions to use; susceptibility measures openness to future use 13–16. Consistent with previous research,15 high curiosity (simply referred to as ‘curiosity’ subsequently) was defined as a response of ‘definitely yes’ or ‘probably yes’ (vs ‘definitely not’ or ‘probably not’) to the question, ‘Have you ever been curious about [using an e-cigarette/smoking a cigarette]?’…”