Associations of social media use with tobacco smoking and e-cigarettes: a national longitudinal study

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackgroundSocial media may influence children and young people’s health behaviour, including smoking and e-cigarette use.MethodsWe analysed data from participants aged 10-25 in the UK Household Longitudinal Study 2015-2022. The amount of social media use reported on a normal weekday, was related to current tobacco smoking and e-cigarette use. Generalised Estimating Equation (GEE) logistic regression models investigated associations of social media use with tobacco and e-cigarette use. Models controlled for possible confounders including age, sex, country of UK, ethnicity, household income and use of tobacco/e-cigarettes by others within the home.ResultsAmong 10,808 participants with 27,962 observations, current tobacco smoking was reported by 2,237(20.7%) at least one time point, and current e-cigarette use by 1,013 participants (9.4%). In adjusted GEE models, increasing use of social media was associated with greater odds of current smoking and this was particularly apparent at higher levels of use (AOR 3.11, CI 2.41-4.03 for ≥7hours/day vs no use). Associations were similar for e-cigarettes, e.g. OR=3.04, CI 2.11-4.40 for ≥7hours social media use versus none).ConclusionsSocial media use is associated with an increased risk of e-cigarette and tobacco use, reinforcing the need for policies to address this as an avenue for marketing to children and young people.