Spousal influence on smoking behaviors in a US community sample of newly married couples

Among married couples, partners often have similar characteristics and behaviors. Among individuals who smoke cigarettes, it is not uncommon for them to have a partner who also smokes. In fact, having a partner who smokes can influence the spouse's initiation of smoking, or return to smoking after a previous quit attempt. Additionally, it is possible that a nonsmoking partner can influence his/her spouse to stop smoking. Participants for this research are from a community sample of couples in the United States. They were recruited at the time they applied for their marriage license and followed through to their second wedding anniversary. Logistic regression models, controlling for demographics, were utilized to determine if a partner's smoking status predicted smoking initiation or relapse over the early years of marriage. Overall, there was some support that a partner's smoking status did influence the other's smoking, although more support was found for spousal influence on relapse than cessation. There was more support for husband's influence compared to wife's influence, nonsmoking wives were more likely to resume smoking in the early years of their marriage if their partners were smokers. Wives' smoking, however, did not predict husband initiation of smoking. These findings suggest that during the transition into marriage, spouses do influence their partners' behaviors. In particular, women are more likely to resume smoking, or return to smoking if their partners smoke.Smoking Marriage Spousal influence USA

College health providers’ knowledge and confidence in addressing college students’ vaping

Aims: There has been a call for health providers to increase their awareness and confidence when discussing vaping with college students. This may be particularly relevant given the rapidly changing vape landscape. Vaping nicotine or cannabis products is popular, and rates of vaping are typically higher among younger adults compared to mid-aged or older adults. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge and confidence of college healthcare providers regarding vaping among college students. Methods: Pilot data was collected from 51 college health providers located at 26 colleges in the 64-campus State University of New York (SUNY) system. Knowledge of vaping was assessed using a number of items, including, “Do you find students on your campus use electronic cigarettes more often for vaping nicotine or for vaping cannabis?” Response options were: nicotine, cannabis, don’t know. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the study findings. Results: College health providers agree (76%) that vaping is a problem on their campus. They largely felt knowledgeable (80.9%) and confident (87.8%) in discussing vaping. However, the majority (67%) of these health providers reported they “don’t know” what product college students are vaping. Importantly, most indicate learning about vaping is a priority area (74%), and indicate they have time to learn more about vaping (82%). Conclusions: Overall, findings indicate a potential disconnect between providers’ perceived and actual knowledge of college student vaping. Understanding what products students are using, whether alone or in combination, will help to tailor messaging to students and inform prevention and intervention initiatives. These findings, as a whole, demonstrate areas of opportunity to assist college health providers in comprehensively addressing vaping with their college student populations. Future research is needed to better understand from where health providers are obtaining their knowledge of vaping, and if this knowledge is, in fact, accurate.https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/fsrcf_nss/1005/thumbnail.jp

Multifactorial etiology of adolescent nicotine addiction: a review of the neurobiology of nicotine addiction and its implications for smoking cessation pharmacotherapy.

Nicotine is the primary pharmacologic component of tobacco, and its highly addictive nature is responsible for its widespread use and significant withdrawal effects that result in challenges to smoking cessation therapeutics. Nicotine addiction often begins in adolescence and this is at least partially attributed to the fact that adolescent brain is most susceptible to the neuro-inflammatory effects of nicotine. There is increasing evidence for the involvement of microglial cells, which are the brain's primary homeostatic sensor, in drug dependence and its associated behavioral manifestations particularly in the adolescent brain. A hallmark of neuro-inflammation is microglial activation and activation of microglia by nicotine during adolescent development, which may result in long-term addiction to nicotine. This non-systematic review examines multifactorial etiology of adolescent nicotine addiction, neurobiology of nicotine addiction and the potential mechanisms that underlie the effects of nicotine on inflammatory signaling in the microglia, understanding how nicotine affects the adolescent brain. We speculate, that modulating homeostatic balance in microglia, could have promising therapeutic potential in withdrawal, tolerance, and abstinence-related neural adaptations in nicotine addiction, in the adolescent brain. Further, we discuss nicotine addiction in the context of the sensitization-homeostasis model which provides a theoretical framework for addressing the potential role of microglial homeostasis in neural adaptations underlying nicotine abuse

College health providers’ knowledge and confidence in addressing students’ vaping: Evidence from a pilot study in New York State

Objective: This study examines the knowledge and confidence of college healthcare providers in discussing vaping with their college student populations. Methods: This is a mixed-methods descriptive study using a sequential-explanatory approach, consisting of a cross-sectional, online survey followed by qualitative interviews. Survey data was collected from 50 college health providers located at 26 colleges in the 64-campus State University of New York system. Targeted semi-structured interviews (N = 11) were conducted by telephone with providers who completed the survey. Results: Despite high reported levels of knowledge and confidence, few providers had participated in educational activities relative to vaping. There was evidence of misinformation about e-cigarettes, and they did not know what product (nicotine/cannabis) students typically vape. Conclusions: Findings indicate a potential disconnect between providers’ perceived and actual knowledge of college student vaping and demonstrate areas of opportunity to assist college health providers in comprehensively addressing vaping with their college student populations. Innovation: College health providers played a key role in lowering rates of combustible cigarette smoking, but little is known about how they are now are communicating with college students about e-cigarette and cannabis vaping. This paper examines college health providers’ knowledge, confidence, and training needs relative to vaping communications