CLOSING NEWS
United States
A new study entitled “Correlates of Hookah Use and Predictors of Hookah Trial in U.S. Young Adults,” found that in 2013, almost a quarter of the US young adults aged 18-24 had used hookah. Six months later, 8% of the young adults who had never used hookah reported trying hookah. A third of those who reported hookah initiation at the six-month follow-up reported that they considered hookah less harmful than cigarettes.
The study is part of a unique ongoing Legacy-sponsored longitudinal survey that observes participants aged 18-34 years every six months. For this study 1,555 participants aged 18-24 were surveyed in July 2013 and 74% (1,150) were surveyed again 6 months later. The data were weighted to offset non-response bias and produce nationally representative estimates. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, is the first to examine predictors of hookah use in a national longitudinal sample of young adults and it has been released at the same time as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Youth Tobacco Survey showing hookah use almost doubling among high school students.
The study found that among college attendees, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco users, those who perceived hookah as the same or less harmful than cigarettes were likely to have tried hookah. “Appealing ways to smoke tobacco, like hookah and cigars, are increasingly popular in young adults and may be undermining the gains we have made in reducing youth cigarette use,” said Andrea Villanti, director for regulatory science and policy at the Schroeder Institute at Legacy, and lead author on this study. “Until recently, the uptake of hookah in young people has been flying under the radar.”