34 Normative beliefs about tobacco products differ by age: Implications for smoking cessation and harm reduction

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The prevalence of combusted cigarette (CC) smoking among older adults is stagnant, with zero declines attributable to e-cigarette (EC) use. Normative beliefs predict quitting and switching to ECs (a behavior likely to yield health benefits for those unable to quit), so this study seeks to characterize the role of age in norms about CC and EC use. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Data come from Wave 5 (2018-2019) of the adult Population Assessment of Tobacco Use and Health (PATH) study, a nationally-representative, U.S. longitudinal cohort. Analyses were restricted to people with established CC use (smoked CCs in the past year, currently smoke regularly, and smoked ≥100 lifetime CCs; n=8,590). Cross-sectional weighted estimates of the prevalence of normative beliefs about CCs and ECs were calculated by age using the Balanced Repeated Replication (BRR) method with Fay=0.3. We used chi-square tests to examine the association of age group (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, or ≥65) with the prevalence of 2 descriptive and 4 personal social norms. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The prevalence of the normative belief that most people disapprove of CCs (p DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Older adults are more likely than younger adults to endorse anti-tobacco norms, which prior work shows is associated with quitting smoking. These beliefs could be leveraged to create targeted communications towards older adults encouraging smoking cessation. More research is needed to assess age-related tobacco beliefs and switching from CC to EC.