Author: Michelle Villar

03 Aug ReACH Lab Graduate Student Becomes Newest Member of APA Science Student Council and Wins APA Student Poster Award

Many congratulations are in order for ReACH Lab graduate student Julie Cristello after being recently been appointed as the newest member of the APA Science Student Council (SSC), where she will serve as the Clinical Science Representative. The SSC advocates for research-oriented graduate students, and aims to represent psychology as a core Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) discipline. A few of the many tasks appointed to the council includes advising the Board of Scientific Affairs and the APA Science Directorate on research-oriented student issues and developing science-oriented APA convention programming. 

Additionally, Ms. Cristello has won a NIAAA/NIDA travel award and will present at the NIAAA/NIDA Early Career Investigator Poster Session as part of APA. Her poster “The impact of Instagram content on perceived harm due to alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents” has also won the first place student poster award for as part of Division 50 programming. Please read her abstract below for more information on this award-winning poster.

“Perceived harm, or the perception of negative consequences linked with substance use, is an important correlate of adolescent use. Monitoring the Future has found that perceived harm often influences adolescent substance use. As alcohol and marijuana are the most widely used substances among youth, identifying factors associated with perceived harm can inform prevention programming. Social media provides opportunities to interact with both peers and influential figures (e.g., celebrities) that may display glamorized alcohol and marijuana use. As such, we examined whether frequency of exposure to alcohol and marijuana content on Instagram by both peers and influential figures was associated with perceived harm. Participants (N = 120,M_age = 15.02, 60.8% Female, 85.0% White, 82.5% Latinx/Hispanic) were adolescents who completed Waves 1 and 2 of a longitudinal study examining factors impacting e-cigarette initiation. Multiple regression models were estimated, and covariates included sex, age, race, ethnicity, lifetime substance use, and number of times checking Instagram. Exposure to alcohol posts by both peers and influential figures did not predict perceived harm of binge drinking. However, exposure to marijuana posts by influential figures, not peers, negatively predicted perceived harm of marijuana use. Specifically, as exposure to marijuana content by influential figures increased, adolescent perceived harm of marijuana use decreased. While peers strongly impact teen risk behavior, findings suggest that exposure to content posted by influential figures may have a greater impact on adolescents perception of harm, especially with regard to marijuana use. This may be due to the glamorization of marijuana use and absence of negative consequences. Interventions that target Instagram, or other social media content, may have utility for addressing perceived harm of marijuana use among adolescents.”

Congratulations on all these accomplishments Julie, the ReACH Lab is very proud of you!

24 Jul Colorado Sues Juul After a Yearlong Investigation on Marketing Strategies Aimed at Youth

After a year long investigation into one of the largest electronic cigarette companies—Juul Labs, Inc.—the state of Colorado is suing Juul for marketing techniques that target the youth. A recent article published by The Denver Post suggests that the company targeted the youth for sales of product and misinformed the population on Juul products being a healthier alternative to cigarettes. Scientists currently believe that electronic cigarettes are healthy alternatives, but only for previous cigarette smokers that have made the transition. The lawsuit claims that Juul purposely targeted the younger population deemed as “cool kids” through the use of social media ads and influencers, product ambassadors, and fruity pod flavors tailored to youth. Furthermore, the company was very relaxed in product replacement; instead of requiring customers to send in their broken devices, Juul allowed buyers to submit serial numbers in order to replace their product. In one example, a single customer who purchased 60 devices received 300 replacements when using serial numbers through the device warranties. Officials are also claiming that the company did not put a nicotine label on the product until the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) made it a requirement in 2018. Colorado has made the decision to sue this company after a state study proved that the youth in Colorado were smoking at the rate twice that of the national average. In efforts to reduce the numbers of youth smoking, cities like Aspen have banned the sales of any nicotine product and the federal government has pushed the purchasing age of nicotine to 21.

22 Jul ReACH Lab RA Accepted to FIU’s Urban Education Master’s Program

15 Jul ACE Project Team Launches New COVID-19 Study

On June 11th, the ACE Project team launched a new online study related to COVID-19 for ACE Project participating families. The purpose of the study is to examine the psychosocial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on adolescents, as well as, their experiences during this time. The families have the opportunity to complete the survey in the comfort of their own home, and the data collected will provide researchers with information on how adolescents are learning about, thinking about, and reacting to the coronavirus. In addition, the study will also examine how their beliefs and behaviors about substance use (like smoking cigarettes, vaping/e-cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or other drug use) may change during the coronavirus pandemic.

The ACE Project is a longitudinal study that is investigating how certain factors can influence a teen’s behavior and beliefs about substances during high school in order to understand and improve prevention efforts.

02 Jul ReACH Lab Graduate Student Validates Adolescent E-Cigarette Consequences Questionnaire

ReACH Lab graduate student Julie Cristello recently published an article validating a self-report measure for assessing adolescent outcome expectancies for e-cigarette use. Please see below for the article’s abstract: 

Introduction: Given the recent dramatic increase among adolescents in the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) or electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), there is a growing need to identify outcome expectancies that influence the initiation or continued use of e-cigarettes. While a self-report measure exists for assessing adolescent outcome expectancies for cigarette use, there is currently not one available for e-cigarette use. Validation and use of such a measure would provide insight into the growing popularity of e-cigarettes. Methods: The sample consisted of 264 (50.76% female, 86.36% White, 84.47% Hispanic/Latinx) freshmen and sophomores from South Florida high schools who were identified as at-risk for e-cigarette use. The current study adapted the Adolescent Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (ASCQ) to derive the Adolescent E-Cigarette Consequences Questionnaire (AECQ) to characterize e-cigarette outcome expectancies. A confirmatory factor analysis was estimated to test the underlying factor structure. Results: The confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a seven-factor structure (negative affect reduction, taste/sensorimotor manipulation, social facilitation, weight control, negative physical feelings, boredom reduction, and negative social impression) after removing two items with low factor loadings from the social facilitation subscale. After removing these items, factor loadings ranged from 0.46 to 0.86. Conclusion: The current study provides preliminary evidence to suggest that the Adolescent E-Cigarette Consequences Questionnaire is a psychometrically sound measure. Future work should continue to test this measure among diverse samples of adolescents (e.g., non-Latinx samples) with varying levels of use.

Congratulations for this incredible accomplishment Julie! 

29 Jun ACE Project Graduate Student Presents in the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Conference

On June 23rd, NBC Lab Graduate Student, Jessica Flannery, provided an oral presentation for The College on Problems of Drug Dependence online conference. 

Ms. Flannery discussed findings from the preliminary analysis of data from Wave 1 of the ACE Project, which included the data of 264 high-school students, 84.5% being Hispanic/Latinx. The results from the study support prior findings, where higher perceived Electronic Nicotine Device (ENDS) use among peers is linked to intentions to use ENDS in the future. Additionally, these results suggested that this relationship was partially explained by the impact of peer ENDS use on a teen’s attitudes towards ENDS, meaning adolescents are more likely to use vaping products in the future if their peers have favorable opinions on e-cigarettes. Second, the findings showed that resistance to general peer influences may reduce the impact of peer use on ENDS attitudes, therefore suggesting that increasing the refusal to peer influence may be an applicable intervention strategy to reduce ENDS use. Finally, the results displayed that high schoolers that demonstrate greater externalizing characteristics (such as cursing, stealing, or destruction of property), but that were lower on internalizing characteristics (such as loneliness, sadness, or fearfulness), may be particularly vulnerable to social risk factors – adverse social conditions associated with poor health – that increase use intentions. Thus, Ms. Flannery and collaborators suggest that prevention efforts addressing these social risk factors may provide the biggest impact among teens exhibiting these externalizing characteristics.

Watch the full presentation here.

19 Jun Vaping Rates May Increase this Summer Due to COVID-19

A recent Q&A with Forbes experts foresees a boom in the vaping market, for both nicotine and marijuana products, due to COVID-19 as summer begins. According to marijuana experts, summer is traditionally a strong season for buying cannabis products. The reopening of major states and cities following quarantine is likely to be joined with an increase in tourist activity, who may be buying vape products to use during their vacations. Additionally, some may turn to vaping marijuana during this pandemic as a way to cope with stress and anxiety, and new consumers are on the rise. The fear of spreading germs is another concern for marijuana users, and may lead to consumers straying away from sharing traditional methods of using marijuana such as smoking a joint and turn to their own vape pens.

As recently reported by FIU news, substance use while in quarantine is a real worry, especially among adolescents. Time will tell how this global pandemic ends up affecting the population, and if these predictions will come to fruition.

15 Jun ACE Project and FIU News Discuss COVID-19 and Substance Use Among Teens

The ACE Project team has collaborated with FIU News to inform the public about the risk of teen substance use during COVID-19, and how parents and guardians can help their children during this time. Dr. Elisa Trucco (ReACH Lab Director and ACE Project Co-PI) detailed the effects of anxiety on adolescents and the consequence it may have on their mental and physical well-being. Studies have shown that traumatic events that affect a large community, such as Hurricane Katrina, have led to a significant increase in substance use from survivors, and this is especially alarming for adolescents because they are the highest at risk for mental illness. Dr. Trucco recommends parents take breaks from news updates, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and to be conscious of the ways in which they teach their kids how to cope with stress.  

You may read the full article on the FIU News website.

02 Jun The FDA’s Approach to Youth E-Cigarette Use

A recent article in the American Journal of Public Health details the current steps the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking towards attempting to curb vaping among teens. The FDA is very aware of the ever-increasing rates of youth e-cigarette use; in 2019, more than five million middle and high school students reported current use of e-cigarette products, with nearly one million citing daily use. This vaping epidemic has been troubling to many health officials and researchers, with many putting the blame on government agencies and their lax policies. This is not a blind accusation; all e-cigarette products on the market are currently unlawful products because none has received a “marketing authorization, as required by law, from the FDA.” This lack of authorization is due to the agency’s “exercise of enforcement discretion,” which allowed the FDA to extend their typical time frame for authorization and allow thousands of e-cigarette products to enter the market without product review.

Following the statistics from 2019, the FDA announced their intention to “prioritize enforcement against illegally marketed ENDS products”, with a focus on cartridge- or pod-based e-cigarette products (excluding tobacco and menthol flavors), products with manufacturers who fail to take measures against underage vaping, and any product who intentionally targets minors. The FDA has taken measures to attempt to enforce these goals; since 2016, the agency has conducted more than 2000 vape shop inspections, issued more than 11,000 warning letters, and filed nearly 2000 civil money penalties to retailers for selling e-cigarette products to minors. Additionally, the FDA is responsible for “The Real Cost” campaign aimed at youth e-cigarette prevention, which boasts nearly 3.6 billion adolescent impressions in 16 months across social media platforms. 

Although the FDA says they remain “committed to ending the youth epidemic of e-cigarette use and preventing the next generation from facing a lifetime of addiction and other potential tobacco-related dangers,” it seems we’ll have to wait and see if these measures are too little, too late. 

26 May Data Shows E-Cigarette Users Are Returning to Regular Cigarettes

According to Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, they found in their first-quarter earnings that consumers 50 and older are returning to smoking regular cigarettes after having switched to e-cigarettes. CEO Billy Gifford stated in their meeting that they believe the consumers “recently returned to cigarettes due to negative publicity and regulatory and legislative developments in the e-vapor category”. Data also suggests that Altria is losing retail share despite the increase in cigarette consumption, and they believe that this is due to the availability of more affordable brands and shoppers stockpiling due to the ongoing global pandemic.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding e-cigarette products due to their rising use in underage youth and vaping-linked lung injuries. The FDA has implemented new regulations for vaping industries which has affected its sales from its market audience but has also influenced new and alternative devices from smaller companies. Bonnie Herzog, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, stated that they believe that “smaller brands such as Puff Bar continue to gain significant share, especially in the disposable e-cig segment, which is not covered by the FDA’s restriction on non-tobacco [and] non-menthol flavor variants”. Although the long term effects of e-cigarettes are still being studied, vaping is still considered a safer alternative to cigarettes by public health organizations across the world.