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Abstract
Nicotine intake usage trends have changed over recent decades given the wide variety of nicotine delivery systems including cigarettes, vaping, hookah, and snubs/chewables. These trends also vary by demographic factors, such as race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). For example, studies in rat populations, as well as humans, have found that females tend to be more dependent on nicotine products and have a more difficult time quitting than male rats and humans (Pogun et al., 2017). Also, race/ethnicity may impact the frequency of nicotine usage in different populations; in that non-white Hispanics were more susceptible to smoking through adolescence with a peak at ages 12 and 16; whereas non-Hispanic Asian Americans were less susceptible to smoking at ages 11 and 15 (El-Toukhy et al., 2016). Certain nicotine delivery methods may be more available or perhaps more socially accepted by certain groups of people. While lower SES is associated with more prevalent cigarette advertisements and usage, individuals with a higher SES were associated with an increased prevalence of e-cigarette advertisements, leading to an increased frequency of e-cigarette usage among adolescents (Simon et al., 2018). This project aims to document rates of nicotine use across different nicotine delivery systems in college students by demographic factors. We use the Spit for Science (S4S) database to investigate prevalence rates and study if they differ by sex, race/ethnicity, or SES. It is hypothesized that higher SES individuals will have an increased frequency of use with nicotine products that are non-cigarette based, non-white Hispanics will have greater frequency with nicotine usage, and females within the study sample will display a higher dependency on nicotine products than males. Preliminary analyses reveal that there are more female participants than males throughout the S4S cohorts collected between 2020 and 2022. Across cohorts, prevalence of all nicotine delivery systems differs in female and male participants across all products. Larger differences in prevalence between females and males are observed for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars than for products that have been introduced more recently, such as hookah, vaping, and heat-not-burn products. Further analyses will focus on patterns of use in relation to race/ethnicity and SES. Understanding nicotine usage trends within our sample could pave the way for additional research (i.e., genetic studies) and allow for the development of prevention/intervention models tailored to our sample populations.
Publication Date
2023
Subject Major(s)
Biology
Keywords
Nicotine, Biological Sex, Sex, Delivery Methods, Prevalence
Disciplines
Psychology | Public Health | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Current Academic Year
Senior
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Hermine H. Maes
Rights
© The Author(s)