Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

Social Goals and Vulnerability to Peer Influence: Adolescent Substance Use Initiation

E-cigarette popularity continues to grow among adolescents (CDC, 2018). Last year alone, more than one million youth-initiated use, prompting renewed examination of risk factors for early tobacco use (Paynich, 2019). Peer influence and social goals have been shown to significantly predict early substance use, but little is known of their relation to adolescent e-cigarette initiation (Baumann & Ennet, 1996). The present study will examine the role of peers and social motivations on intentions to use e-cigarettes, subsequently contrasting findings with existing data regarding combustible cigarettes. It is expected that an adolescent's level of socials goals (i.e., communal, agentic) will moderate the relationship between peer approval/use of (e)cigarettes on intentions to initiate use of (e)cigarettes, such that communal goals will be significantly and positively related to e-cigarette intentions whereas agentic goals will be similarly related to combustible cigarettes. Findings may improve e-cigarette assessment and intervention for vulnerable youth.