Social Media Influences on Engagement and Susceptibility to Non-combustible Tobacco Product Use Among Youth and Young Adults (AYA)

NCT07721883 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: UP-23-00724U54CA180905
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 4,500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to present social media posts with varying combinations of flavor types and mentions of stealth use, to adolescents and determine whether these message characteristics increase adolescents' perceptions of these products and susceptibility to using these products.

Conditions

Perceptions of Tobacco Products

Keywords

tobacco, e-cigarette, social media

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Tobacco product use: Lifetime and past-month use of tobacco products Perceived harm of product Social norms about product use Susceptibility to tobacco use

  All of these are standard psychosocial measures from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) survey.

  Immediately after viewing the stimuli

Study Arms (6)

Unflavored tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Flavored tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product

EXPERIMENTAL

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Concept flavor tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product

EXPERIMENTAL

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Unflavored tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product

EXPERIMENTAL

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Flavored tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product

EXPERIMENTAL

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Concept flavor tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product

EXPERIMENTAL

A picture of a social media post

Behavioral: Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described.

Interventions

Each intervention will be a picture of a social media post. The posts will vary (in a 3X2 factorial design) the type of flavor described and whether concealability is described. BEHAVIORAL

The researchers are making stimuli that will appear to be social media posts about tobacco products. They will vary on two dimensions in a 3X2 design: Type of flavor portrayed (flavored, unflavored, or concept flavor name) Whether the post portrays the tobacco product as concealable

Concept flavor tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product; Concept flavor tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product; Flavored tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product; Flavored tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product; Unflavored tobacco product, depiction of concealment of product; Unflavored tobacco product, no depiction of concealment of product

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 14 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• High school student
• Provides parental consent and youth assent

You may not qualify if:

• No parental consent or youth assent
• Can't read or speak English

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern California: lead
• National Cancer Institute (NCI): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, 90032, United States

RECRUITING

Related Links

• We will de-identify the data and upload it to an NIH-approved repository after the end of the study.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Vaping

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Smoking; Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Jennifer B Unger, PhD

CONTACT

323-442-8234; unger@usc.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Adolescents will view social media posts about tobacco products with varying characteristics. After viewing the posts, they will report their perceptions of tobacco products.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 16, 2026
• First Posted: July 23, 2026
• Study Start: July 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2028
• Last Updated: July 23, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)