Smokeless Tobacco Use in College Students
Smokeless Tobacco Use in College Students
Principal Investigator: Mark Wolfson
Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- Grant
ID number: 3 R01 CA141643-04S2
Award Date: 9/19/2012
Institution: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Very little is known about individuals' exposure to, and perceptions and use of, smokeless tobacco products such as snus and dissolvable tobacco products (i.e., strips, orbs and sticks). Markets where tobacco companies test these new products provide a unique laboratory for understanding the extent and correlates of exposure, perceptions, and use of these products in a real-world setting. Investigators will expand their ongoing research on smokeless tobacco use in college students by measuring exposure to advertising, perceptions, likelihood of trying, and use of new tobacco products in young adults (aged 18-35) in three test markets (Charlotte, NC; Denver, CO; and Wichita, KS). Specific aims are: (1) to measure awareness, exposure to advertising, perceptions, likelihood of trying, and use of snus and dissolvables by conducting a survey of 4,000 young adults; and (2) to identify individual, interpersonal and environmental correlates of exposure, perceptions, likelihood of trying, and use of these products by analyzing the survey data (for individual and interpersonal correlates) and by conducting an assessment of point-of-purchase availability, advertising and sales in 510 tobacco retailers (for environmental correlates). This information may inform the regulation of these products by creating a science base regarding their impact.