E-Cigarette Social Norms and Risk Perceptions Among Susceptible Adolescents in a Country That Bans E-Cigarettes:

Background. This study examined how risk perceptions and social norms around e-cigarettes are associated with susceptibility (i.e., openness to using the product in the next 12 months) of e-cigarettes and smoking among adolescents. Methods. We analyzed data from a 2016 representative survey of 8,718 middle school students in Mexico. The study sample was restricted to students who had tried neither e-cigarettes nor cigarettes, (N = 4471). Students reported on the risks of e-cigarettes compared with those of cigarettes, and product-specific norms were measured by assessing current use by family members, at least one close friend, and, for e-cigarettes, by perceived societal acceptability of use (i.e., acceptability among people in general). Adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) were estimated using generalized estimating equation models that regressed e-cigarette societal acceptability on study variables. Adjusted generalized estimating equation models also regressed susceptibility for each product on study vari...