Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug;142(2):e20180051.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-0051. Epub 2018 Jul 16.

Adults' Perceptions of Nicotine Harm to Children

Catherine B Kemp  1   2 , Claire Adams Spears  3   2 , Terry F Pechacek  3   4 , Michael P Eriksen  3   4
Affiliations

Adults' Perceptions of Nicotine Harm to Children

Catherine B Kemp et al. Pediatrics. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Given the changing landscape of tobacco products in recent years, the array of products through which children could be exposed to nicotine has grown substantially. Thus, it is particularly important to understand adults' perceptions of the harms of nicotine to children and to identify any sociodemographic factors related to inaccurate risk perceptions.

Methods: Data were drawn from 2015 to 2016 US nationally representative surveys (n = 11 959). Using multinomial logistic regression analyses, we examined whether race, sex, education, tobacco product use, and having a minor child in the home are associated with the level of perceived harmfulness of nicotine to children.

Results: Although the majority of respondents characterized nicotine as "definitely harmful" to children, there were notable subgroup differences. Compared with women, men had significantly lower odds of characterizing nicotine as "definitely harmful" to children. Tobacco product users had significantly lower odds of endorsing "definitely harmful" or "don't know" than nonusers. African American non-Hispanic individuals, Hispanic individuals, and "other" non-Hispanic individuals had significantly lower odds of endorsing "definitely harmful" or "maybe harmful" than white individuals.

Conclusions: Although most adults perceive nicotine exposure as harmful for children, there are important differences based on sex, racial and/or ethnic background, and tobacco use status. The results reveal the need for public health efforts to better understand and target inaccurate risk perceptions among specific subgroups.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Wang TW, Kenemer B, Tynan MA, Singh T, King B. Consumption of combustible and smokeless tobacco - United States, 2000-2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65(48):1357–1363 - PMC - PubMed
    1. King BA, Alam S, Promoff G, Arrazola R, Dube SR. Awareness and ever-use of electronic cigarettes among U.S. adults, 2010-2011. Nicotine Tob Res. 2013;15(9):1623–1627 - PMC - PubMed
    1. King BA, Patel R, Nguyen KH, Dube SR. Trends in awareness and use of electronic cigarettes among US adults, 2010-2013. Nicotine Tob Res. 2015;17(2):219–227 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pericot-Valverde I, Gaalema DE, Priest JS, Higgins ST. E-cigarette awareness, perceived harmfulness, and ever use among U.S. adults. Prev Med. 2017;104:92–99 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hammett E, Veldheer S, Yingst J, Hrabovsky S, Foulds J. Characteristics, use patterns and perceptions of electronic cigarette users who were never traditional cigarette smokers. Addict Behav. 2017;65:92–97 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources