Social Media Research to Understand Adolescent Tobacco/Nicotine Use

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Description

Social media use is common among adolescents, and it has been identified as a major source of tobacco-related content. In this webinar, Drs. Jennifer Unger, Jon-Patrick Allem and Anuja Majmundar will describe the use of social media to obtain insights about tobacco use among adolescents. The presenters will describe the types of questions that can be addressed with social media data, the benefits and limitations of different social media platforms, and methods for accessing and analyzing social media data. The presenters will provide examples of their social media research on tobacco use. This webinar is sponsored by SRNT's Adolescent Network.

Contributors

Jennifer B Unger

My research focuses on the etiology and prevention of tobacco and other substance use among diverse populations through health education, media, and policy. I lead an R01-type project in the FDA-funded USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS) focusing on dissemination of pro- and anti-tobacco messages to vulnerable populations through social media. In the next five-year funding period, this project will focus on effects of tobacco-related social media engagement on tobacco product use.

I currently serve as PI on a TRDRP grant investigating proximity to cannabis retailers and cannabis use. I recently completed a TRDRP-funded mixed-methods study of Californians’ attitudes about regulation of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products. I have served as PI or Co-PI on several additional large-scale NIH- and TRDRP-funded health promotion trials and etiologic studies of diverse populations, including a longitudinal study of acculturation patterns and substance use among Hispanics during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood, a longitudinal study of parent-child acculturation gaps and substance use among Hispanic recent immigrants in Los Angeles and Miami, a longitudinal smoking prevention trial for Hispanic and Asian American adolescents in 24 schools, and multiple studies of the effectiveness of health education fotonovelas and telenovelas about diabetes, depression, medication adherence, secondhand smoke, and kidney transplantation. Through this program of research, I have developed expertise in theoretical models of the etiology of health-risk and health-protective behaviors, survey measurement development and validation, recruitment and tracking of minority adolescents and young adults, prevention intervention development, and evaluation of interventions to reduce health disparities.

I am a Deputy Editor of Nicotine & Tobacco Research and Substance Use and Misuse, served two terms on the NIH RPIA study section, and have contributed to three Surgeon General’s Reports on Smoking and Tobacco Use. I direct the Ph.D. program in Preventive Medicine / Health Behavior Research at USC and have mentored numerous students over the past 20 years.
Jon-Patrick Allem

Jon-Patrick Allem is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Allem's work focuses on developing cutting-edge methodologies to improve population health surveillance and policy. His multidisciplinary expertise in behavioral science, preventive medicine and data science has led to data-driven public health insights featured in prominent media and scholarly outlets such U.S News & World Report, CNN, and the American Journal of Public Health.

Using data from online platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google Web Search, Dr. Allem’s research includes studies on the effectiveness of mass media campaigns in the U.S. and Latin America, population mental health in the U.S. and Australia, public interest in climate change in the U.S., use and appeal of hookah, e-cigarettes, and flavored cigars in the U.S., HIV education in the U.S., and documented cases of hazardous driving in the U.S. His current projects are focused on understanding user experience with emerging tobacco products, the impact of product placement in music videos on product appeal, and the influences of automated social media accounts (social bots) on health-related attitudes and behaviors.
Anuja Majmundar

Anuja Majmundar is a USC Provost predoctoral fellow in the Health Behavior Research program, University of Southern California, Department of Preventive Medicine. Anuja works at the intersection of behavioral science, communication, and data science. Her research interests are tobacco prevention and cessation, counter-marketing and regulatory science. Anuja is particularly interested in scalable public health initiatives characterized by effective inference, prediction and personalization features. She is currently working on developing digital and social media listening frameworks, methods and surveillance systems using machine learning, natural language processing and longitudinal statistical techniques. She received her M.A. (Communication) from San Diego State University, U.S.A. and M.B.A. (Communication Management) from Symbiosis International University, India. In addition to research, Anuja has several years of industry experience in international marketing research and design.

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Description

Contributors

Jennifer B Unger

Jon-Patrick Allem

Anuja Majmundar