Socioeconomic, psychological distress, and social norm correlates of youth smoking and vaping: a multilevel pooled cross-sectional analysis
Journal Article
Overview
abstract
Abstract; ; Introduction; Cigarette smoking among youth has continued to decline in recent years as vaping product use has become increasingly popular. Lower socioeconomic status (SES), psychological distress, and exposure to more permissive smoking norms are associated with higher rates of cigarette smoking. It remains unclear the extent to which SES, psychological distress, and smoking norms may represent common correlates for youth smoking and vaping.; ; ; Methods; The current study estimated pooled, cross-sectional, generalized linear mixed models to examine associations between SES, psychological distress, and smoking norms with lifetime and recent smoking and vaping among statewide samples of Utah youth from 2011 to 2019 (N=231,972). Moderation analyses investigated changes in the strength of association between SES, psychological distress, and smoking norms with outcomes over time.; ; ; Results; Lower area-level SES was significantly associated with increased odds of smoking and reduced odds of vaping while higher household SES was significantly associated with decreased odds of both smoking and vaping. Greater psychological distress and more permissive smoking norms were associated with increased odds of both smoking and vaping. Moderation analyses indicated that, over time, the association between SES and vaping strengthened, the effects of psychological distress on smoking and vaping strengthened, and the effects of smoking norms on smoking and vaping weakened.; ; ; Conclusions; Results of this study suggest that SES, psychological distress, and smoking norms represent common correlates for smoking and vaping. Interventions to improve health literacy, reduce psychological distress, improve health literacy, and influence social norms may reduce long-term tobacco-related health risks.;
