title: Perceptions of E-Cigarettes among Black Youth in California.
abstract: Research suggests that Black youth are less likely to use e-cigarettes than their white counterparts, yet little is known as to why. We examined perceptions of e-cigarettes among Black young adults (ages 18-25) to explore the meanings these youth ascribe to e-cigarettes and the role that identity plays in how these devices are viewed. Analysis of in-depth interviews with 36 Black smokers and non-smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area suggests that Black youth perceive e-cigarettes as serving distinct, yet overlapping roles: a utilitarian function, in that they are recognized as legitimate smoking cessation tools, and a social function, insofar as they serve to mark social identity, specifically a social identity from which our participants disassociated. Participants described e-cigarette users in highly racialized and classed terms and generally expressed disinterest in using e-cigarettes, due in part perhaps to the fact that use of these devices would signal alignment with a middle class, hipster identity. This analysis is discussed within a highly charged political and public health debate about the benefits and harms associated with e-cigarette use.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Institute, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 180 Grand Avenue., Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. chess@prev.org.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Institute, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 180 Grand Avenue., Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. tantin@prev.org.|Institute for Scientific Analysis, 1150 Ballena Blvd., Suite 211, Alameda, CA 94501, USA. tantin@prev.org.
authors.forename: Tamar M J
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Antin
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Institute, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 180 Grand Avenue., Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. rannechino@prev.org.
authors.forename: Rachelle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Annechino
authors.affiliation: Institute for Scientific Analysis, 1150 Ballena Blvd., Suite 211, Alameda, CA 94501, USA. gh.crf@psy.au.dk.|Center for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 10, Building 1322, 334, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. gh.crf@psy.au.dk.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011634:Public Health; D012495:San Francisco; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Black youth; ENDS; cultural commodity; identity