Understanding how teen social networks influence tobacco and vape use and how interventions might work
Official title: Building Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models to investigate social network influences on youth nicotine product use transitions and to simulate different intervention effects across contexts
Funded at University of South Carolina at Columbia · NIH-11535390 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A study with high school students in the U.S., Mexico, and other countries will look at how friends and online interactions affect starting and continuing cigarette and e-cigarette use, and how different interventions could change those patterns.
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 start | September 12, 2024 |
| Project end | August 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $123,708 |
| NIH project number | 3R01CA290828-03S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11535390 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adolescents in high school settings who participate in both in-person and online social networks.
✕Less likely to help
Youth not engaged in school-based settings or without access to online social networks may see limited direct benefit.
What this research studies
This project follows Mexican and other international high school students over 2.5 years to map how close friends and online peers influence tobacco use. It will collect data in six waves, capturing real-time changes in both face-to-face and online networks. The study will use advanced modeling to separate influence from selection, and will include discrete choice experiments to understand teen preferences that policy can target. Findings could guide youth-focused policies to reduce CC and EC uptake by addressing social dynamics. The work is led by the University of South Carolina with a focus on practical, policy-relevant insights for preventing teen tobacco use.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Insights from this research could inform social-network–based prevention strategies to reduce teen tobacco and nicotine product use.
How similar studies have gone: Previous network-based interventions have reduced harmful behaviors in schools, and this study builds on that by comparing friend networks to online interaction networks.
Where this research is happening
-
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.