Annenberg Faculty: $ 3.49 million NIDA grant to study vaping among LGBTQ + youth
In the United States, LGBTQ + youth, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer teens, are 10-30% more likely to vape than their non-LGBTQ + peers. Since vaping quadruples the risk of starting to smoke cigarettes or using other tobacco products, LGBTQ + youth are at greater risk of smoking and tobacco-related health problems.
To combat this health crisis, a group of faculty members at Annenberg School received a five-year, $ 3.49 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to design and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention tailor-made on social media to prevent vaping initiation among LGBTQ + youth. The team includes principal investigator Andy Tan, Robert C. Hornik, David Lydon-Staley, and Andrew A. Strasser.
“This study is important because there is currently no evidence-based approach to reducing vaping among LGBTQ + youth,” said Dr. Tan. “We also know that LGBTQ + youth experience very different stresses and also have unique resistances to smoking avoidance compared to non-LGBTQ + youth. Therefore, traditional anti-vaping messages aimed at youth may not be relevant to LGBTQ + youth. By co-creating an anti-vaping social media campaign with meaningful input from LGBTQ + youth, we will ensure the campaign addresses their specific risks and resilience to help them avoid starting to vape.
The study, titled Project SMART (Social Media Anti-Vaping Messages to Reduce ENDS Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Teens), aims to reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related health disparities among LGBTQ + youth populations. Based on previous studies on health communication, researchers believe that culturally appropriate anti-vaping social media posts will be more effective than non-personalized posts in preventing vaping initiation among young people. LGBTQ +.
The specific objectives of the study are to explore and identify what makes LGBTQ + youth more likely to vape, to develop culturally appropriate anti-vaping messages for LGBTQ + youth, and to assess the effectiveness of anti-vaping messages. among LGBTQ + youth.
In addition to Annenberg’s faculty members, the research team includes multidisciplinary collaborators from across the country, as well as an advisory committee made up of leaders of community organizations.
