The association between exposure to "tips" and smoking-related outcomes among adolescents in the United States

Abstract

The Tips From Former Smokers ("Tips") campaign in the United States primarily targets adult smokers, but considers adolescents an important secondary audience. This study examines the association between exposure to Tips and smoking outcomes in the adolescent population in the United States. We analyzed data from the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of middle- and high-school students in the United States (n = 18 406). Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationships between exposure to Tips advertisements and quitting intentions among current smokers and smoking susceptibility among experimenters and never smokers. Among current smokers, exposure to one Tips ad (versus no exposure) was positively associated with intending to quit. Similar associations also emerged for higher levels of exposure but did not reach significance. Among never smokers, exposure to four and more ads (versus no exposure) was associated with lower smoking susceptibility. Exposure to Tips ads was unrelated to smoking susceptibility among experimenters. The associations observed in the study suggest an intricate, and generally favorable, relationship between campaign exposure and smoking-related outcomes among current smokers and never smokers. Close monitoring of the Tips' impact on the adolescent population is needed.