Association Between Electronic Cigarette Marketing Near Schools and E-cigarette Use Among Youth

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are now the most popular tobacco product among youth. Little is known about the relationship between exposure to e-cigarette marketing at the point-of-sale and youth e-cigarette use.

Research staff collected data on e-cigarette availability and promotion in tobacco retailers within a half-mile of 41 schools participating in the 2014 New Jersey Youth Tobacco Survey. These data were linked with participant responses from the New Jersey Youth Tobacco Survey (n = 3,909) and log-Poisson regression models estimated adjusted prevalence ratios for ever and past-month e-cigarette use.

Nearly a quarter of high school students in New Jersey have tried e-cigarettes (24.1%) and 12.1% were past-month users. Prevalence was highest among males, non-Hispanic whites, and students who have used other tobacco products. After controlling for covariates and the clustered nature of the data, e-cigarette retailer density around schools was positively associated with ever and past-month use of e-cigarettes (p < .05). E-cigarette advertising volume significantly increased the probability of being a past-month e-cigarette user (adjusted prevalence ratio: 1.03, p = .031).

This study suggests that the point-of-sale environment around schools may contribute to e-cigarette use among youth. Policy efforts to restrict tobacco promotion at the point-of-sale may play a role in reducing the use of e-cigarettes.