An interventional study of Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing in Vaping, sponsored by University of Southern California. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 14 Years to 17 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-19.
Sponsored by University of Southern California · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
Adolescents (N = 700) participated in the online survey-based randomized experiment focused on understanding youth perceptions of e-cigarette influencer marketing on social media. Specifically, the study assessed how age appearance of social media influencers, fitness-related contextual framing of e-cigarette content, and perceived influencer credibility jointly shape adolescent harm perceptions, appeal, and susceptibility to e-cigarette use. Participants were randomly shown 6 videos, featuring younger- or older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes in the following experimental conditions: 1) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 1); 2) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 2); 3) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content; and 4) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content (control). After watching each video, participants rated perceptions of influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge) on the scale of 0 (e.g., dishonest) to 100 (honest). Among all participants, harm perceptions and appeal of e-cigarettes was also assessed. Susceptibility to use e-cigarettes was assessed among never users of e-cigarettes.
Adolescents (14-17 years of age) living in California were recruited by Qualtrics marketing research panel to participate in a survey on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Qualtrics, a research panel agency, has been used in prior research to survey adolescents about their tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Participants were provided with a survey URL link. After completing informed consent, participants completed the survey online. The study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (UP-CG-24-00013). Respondents were randomly assigned to watch six 10-second long Instagram and/or TikTok videos in four experimental conditions: 1) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 1); 2) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes alongside fitness-oriented activities (condition 2); 3) younger-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content; and 4) older-looking influencers promoting e-cigarettes without any fitness-oriented content (control).
160 studies on the registry are indexed under Vaping; 72 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 700 is above the median of 110 across 135 interventional studies indexed under Vaping.
Browse Vaping studies →University of Southern California is the lead sponsor of 773 studies on the registry; 135 are open to participants now.
Of its 68 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 32 (47%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Not meeting the following criteria:
a 10 second video clip
Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing
a 10 second video clip
Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing
a 10 second video clip
Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing
a 10 second video clip
Other: Youth Perceptions of Influencer Age and Fitness Contexts in E-Cigarette Marketing
Participants watched online survey-imbedded promotional videos featuring influencers. Influencer age appearance was manipulated using AI-based age filter.
Harm Perceptions of e-cigarettes
Responses to one question adapted from PATH, "Based on the videos you just watched, do you think using e-cigarettes for vaping nicotine is harmful to your health?" The outcome was assessed on the 5-point ordinal scale with the following response choices: Not at all harmful, slightly harmful, somewhat harmful, very harmful, extremely harmful.
Time frame: assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment
Perceived appeal of e-cigarettes
Description: Responses to the following questions: using e-cigarette is: not cool/cool, unattractive/attractive were assessed on the 7-point semantic differential scale with the word pairs anchored at each end. The scale was adapted from prior research. The items were combined (by summing all the non-missing values of the items) into one variable (α=0.94).
Time frame: Assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment
Susceptibility to e-cigarette use
Susceptibility to e-cigarette use was measured (among never-users of e-cigarettes), using the validated three-item scale (indicating peer influence, intention, and curiosity about e-cigarette use) adapted from PATH, and combined into one variable (α=0.93). Consistent with prior research, the measure was dichotomized with responses "definitely not" to all items being coded as "not susceptible" and responses "probably not," "probably yes", or "definitely yes" being coded as "susceptible."
Time frame: Assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment
Perceived influencer credibility
Perceived influencer credibility (i.e., honesty, trustworthiness, knowledge) were assessed using a 0 (e.g., dishonest) -100 (e.g., honest) scale that has been validated in prior research.
Time frame: Assessed six times immediately after each of the six videos during the 15-minute-long survey-based experiment
Plan to share: No — survey is anonymous. Data will be publicly available on GitHub repository if a manuscript related to this study is accepted for publication
This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Southern California