Young adults' tobacco product risk perceptions

Background: Risk perceptions of tobacco products may influence whether individuals use those products, and whether they use them instead of or in addition to regular cigarettes. This study aimed to explore risk perceptions of various products relative to traditional cigarettes with young adults, a group with known higher rates of tobacco product use.  

Methods: We examined responses to risk perception measures on the 2011 National Young Adult Health Survey, the first national cell phone RDD survey of young adults (ages 18-34)(n=2871).

Results: The majority of respondents (57.8%) believed that e-cigarettes were less risky than cigarettes (although 11.4% were unsure), followed by hookah (24.5%), cigars (13.9%), snus (10%), smokeless tobacco (7.1%) and menthol cigarettes (2.5%). More respondents were “unsure” about snus (8.8%) versus smokeless tobacco (2.8%). For e-cigarettes and hookah, the “less risky” belief was more prevalent among males, younger young adults (18-24), those with more education, and those who had ever used the products (over 20 percentage points higher) versus never users. Between 22-33% of respondents believed that SLT, snus, menthol cigarettes and cigars were more risky than cigarettes, a belief more prevalent among males and younger young adults. The differences in prevalence of this “more risky” belief between current users and non-users of these products were small (i.e., 5-6 percentage points) and insignificant.

Conclusion: Perceptions that tobacco products are “less risky” than cigarettes vary widely by product type. While “less risky” perceptions may motivate product use, perceptions that products are “more risky” may not dissuade people from their use.