Dana Litt*, University of Washington, Seattle, United States Melissa A Lewis*, University of Washington, Seattle, United States Christine M Lee*, University of Washington, Seattle, United States Track: Research Presentation Topic: Web 2.0 approaches for clinical practice, clinical research, quality monitoring Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Last modified: 2014-05-28

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Background
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness in the United States with research indicating that approximately half of smokers will die from a smoking-related disease (Centers for Disease Control, 2011). The recognition of emerging risks enables early risk management interventions and better chances of preventing serious health problems (Wiedemann et al., 2005). However, screening at the population level among young adults remains challenging, as many do not seek routine or preventive health care (Kirzinger et al., 2012). As such, innovative approaches to identifying young adults at risk for a variety of negative health outcomes has been receiving attention in recent years. One novel approach to identify young adults at risk may be social networking sites such as Facebook. Recent research by Moreno and colleagues (2012) found that individuals who displayed references to intoxication or problem drinking on publicly available Facebook profiles were more likely to meet problem drinking criteria than participants who displayed either no alcohol references or low levels of alcohol references. Despite the work that has looked at alcohol use, less is known about how displays of other health risk behaviors, such as tobacco use, may be associated with real life behavior.

Objective
The primary aims of the present study were to determine the frequency of which young adults post tobacco references on their Facebook pages, describe the type of people who post tobacco references on Facebook, and determine whether self-reported Facebook postings that contain tobacco references predict actual symptoms of tobacco dependence in a national sample of young adults.

Methods
Study participants were 296 young adults (56% female; mean age 20 years) who participated in an online survey of health behaviors and internet activity. Participants completed items that assessed their use of Facebook, types of postings they made on Facebook, feelings of nicotine dependence (as measured by the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist; DiFranza et al., 2002), and demographics.

Results
Of those individuals who actively used Facebook (98% of total sample), 8% reported posting tobacco references on Facebook. Additionally, posting tobacco-related references was a significant predictor of endorsing feelings of being hooked on nicotine and/or tobacco products while controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Results also indicated that individuals who posted tobacco references on Facebook were significantly more likely to also post references to their own marijuana use and sexual behavior than those individuals who did not post tobacco references, while there were no difference between groups in regards to posted alcohol references.

Conclusions
Results indicate that similar to the work done with alcohol use, Facebook profiles may provide insight into an individual’s tobacco-related risk, specifically their feelings of dependence. Given the importance of early identification and intervention, the present study suggests that individuals who post tobacco references on their Facebook pages might be ideal targets for intervention efforts.