Tobacco use continues to pose a public health threat in the United States despite decades of campaigns to propagate the harms of smoking in addition to decreasing accessibility to tobacco products. The most recent advancement in this endeavor came in 2019 when tobacco purchasing age was increased from 18 to 21 years old. While tobacco use has fortunately decreased steadily over the past three decades, significant numbers of individuals still choose to smoke. The motivating factors behind smoking are often variable, but a commonly found practice is that of social smoking (smoking tobacco-containing products only when in social settings). This study aims to address different forms of social smoking use machine learning technology.
The study’s sample is composed of 133 undergraduate students from a large university in the Pacific Northwest, or otherwise recruited nationally via Amazon’s Turk crowdsourcing technology. Participants completed surveys which recorded scores for the following measures: demographics, alcohol use (via Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), willingness to use substances (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco; measured via a virtual environment called the Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation, which simulated five different social settings in which a substance could be used), psychological distress (via Depressive Symptoms Scale), and smoking frequency. The data was analyzed using binary logistic regression models and basic neural network architecture.
Results of the study found social smokers recorded lower scores for variables related to smoking frequency, willingness, motives, and quantity compared to individuals who did not endorse social smoking practices. Neural network analysis indicated variability among social smokers, but nonetheless upheld the scoring results mentioned above.
Takeaway: college student smoking may be influenced by several different factors, and social smoking may have many different contributing variables and social connotations. Additional research is needed to investigate smoking practices among college students in the United States as tobacco popularity and policy continues to change.