How teen friendships and online interactions shape vaping and smoking habits
Building Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models to investigate social network influences on youth nicotine product use transitions and to simulate different intervention effects across contexts
This project looks at how teens' friends and social media contacts influence whether Mexican high school students start or change e-cigarette and cigarette use.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of South Carolina at Columbia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbia, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11192314 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You'll be invited if you are a high school student in participating Mexican schools and will be followed over 2.5 years with six surveys. Each survey will ask about your cigarette and e-cigarette use, who your close friends are, who you interact with online, and you'll complete short choice exercises about product flavors and preferences. Researchers will map both friendship and online interaction networks and use computer simulations to see how use spreads through different kinds of social ties. The team will compare how strong friendships versus weaker online ties affect starting and progressing in vaping or smoking and model how different school or policy actions might change those patterns.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are Mexican high school students willing to complete six surveys over 2.5 years and answer questions about their friends, online contacts, and nicotine product preferences.
Not a fit: Adults, children not in high school, or teens outside the participating Mexican schools are not included and would not directly benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help schools and policymakers design better ways to prevent teen vaping and smoking by targeting the right social networks and product rules.
How similar studies have performed: Previous school-based network interventions have reduced bullying and cigarette use, but applying these network approaches to the recent rise in e-cigarette use and online interaction networks is newer.
Where this research is happening
Columbia, United States
- University of South Carolina at Columbia — Columbia, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Thrasher, James — University of South Carolina at Columbia
- Study coordinator: Thrasher, James
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.