Associations between use of specific social media sites and electronic cigarette use among college students

Abstract

Objective To examine dose-response associations between use of specific social media sites and the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and traditional cigarettes. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of 298 first-year college students enrolled in the fall 2019 semester at a large state university. Heckman selection and Probit model were used to estimate associations between use of specific social media sites and e-cigarette/traditional cigarette use. Results Each additional hour per day spent on Snapchat was associated with a 4.61% increase in the probability of lifetime e-cigarette use. In addition, among current e-cigarette users, more time spent on Snapchat was associated with more frequent e-cigarette use (marginal effects: 0.13, p = 0.001). Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram were not associated with traditional cigarette smoking. Conclusion Snapchat was the only major social media platform associated with both lifetime and current e-cigarette use.