Study Aims to Empower Parents to Prevent Teen Vaping

OKLAHOMA CITY – Parents are an important line of defense against teen vaping, yet many lack the knowledge and tools needed to recognize vaping products, understand their risks and prevent their children from using them. A new University of Oklahoma study will examine whether targeted social media messages can give parents the information they need to help prevent their children from vaping nicotine and cannabis.

The research, funded by a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will be led by Katelyn Romm, Ph.D., and Erin Vogel, Ph.D., members of the TSET Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC) at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center and assistant professors of pediatrics in the OU College of Medicine. The study will enroll 1,000 parent-adolescent pairs and will begin with surveys to assess what parents know about vaping.

“Data suggest that less than half of parents are aware of whether their kids have vaped and what kinds of substances their kids may be vaping,” Romm said. “Many parents don’t realize vapes contain nicotine or that they can contain cannabis. We know that parents can serve as a key prevention tool when it comes to cigarettes and alcohol, but it’s harder to detect when kids are vaping. Vapes are designed to look like highlighters, lip gloss and other items, and vaping devices continue to evolve.”

Once parental knowledge is assessed, researchers will examine whether parents with greater knowledge about vaping are more likely to use prevention strategies such as setting rules, monitoring their children’s behavior and talking with them about vaping. The research team will also examine whether those parenting behaviors are associated with lower rates of vaping among adolescents.

The researchers will then test whether targeted social media messages can increase parents’ knowledge and help them take action. About 300 parents who initially demonstrate lower levels of vaping knowledge will participate in a five-week online experiment in which they view Facebook messages about vaping devices, health risks, teen vaping and youth-targeted marketing. To create the messages, the research team is partnering with the national organization Parents Against Vaping.

Researchers will test whether exposure to those messages increases parents’ knowledge and use of prevention strategies and whether those changes are associated with lower levels of vaping among their children.

“Nearly 90% of parents report using social media, primarily Facebook, including for parenting advice and support,” Romm said. “That’s why we wanted to leverage social media to expose parents to messages that might help them identify vaping products and understand the harms associated with them. We want to boost parents’ confidence and effectiveness in being able to have conversations with their kids.”

If the messages are effective, the researchers hope to work with public health organizations to develop larger-scale social media campaigns that could influence parents across the country. Because social media campaigns can reach large audiences at relatively low cost, the approach could provide a practical way to support parents in preventing youth vaping.

Although nicotine vaping among youth has declined from its peak in 2019-2020, adolescents who continue to vape are reporting more frequent use.

“Young people who vape are reporting more days of use, and over a third who vape nicotine also report vaping cannabis or THC, which comes with additional health risks,” Romm said.

Vaping is associated with a number of health risks, including lung problems from substances that are not safe to inhale. Other risks include increased blood pressure and heart rate, susceptibility to addiction and an increased likelihood of using other tobacco products like cigarettes.

“The adolescent years are an important time to prevent nicotine and cannabis use from becoming established,” Romm said. “We want to give parents the information and tools they need to recognize vaping and help prevent its use with their children.”

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About the project

Research reported in this press release is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a component of the National Institutes of Health, under award number R01DA065710-01. The TSET Health Promotion Research Center and its activities are made possible through funding from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). Amy Cohn, Ph.D., HPRC member and professor of pediatrics in the OU College of Medicine, serves as co-investigator.

About the University of Oklahoma

Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university with campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and healthcare needs of the state, region and nation. In Oklahoma City, the OU Health Campus is one of the nation’s few academic health centers with seven health profession colleges located on the same campus. The OU Health Campus serves approximately 4,000 students in more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning Oklahoma City and Tulsa and is the leading research institution in Oklahoma. For more information about the OU Health Campus, visit www.ouhsc.edu.