November 10, 2018

E-Cigarette Addiction

Users of e-cigarettes, particularly young adults, may think these products are less addictive than regular cigarettes. But a researcher says Juul brand e-cigarettes have a high potential for addiction. Then, many young consumers think status and self-worth are tied to the products they own. How can we change this materialistic thinking?

Episode Segments:

Nicotine Levels in E-Cigarettes Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine led a study that found that teens and young adults who use Juul brand e-cigarettes are failing to recognize the product's addictive potential, despite using it more often than their peers who smoke conventional cigarettes. She said the nicotine levels in a single Juul pod are the equivalent of smoking 1 ½ to 2 packs of cigarettes. She also discussed the high vulnerabilities of teens to brain changes caused by e-cigarettes, as compared to people in their twenties.
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Teens and Materialism Materialism may be more common than ever. Lan Nguyen Chaplin, PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago led a study that tested ways to reduce materialism among young consumers. She found that a teenagers who completed a two-week gratitude journal were significantly more grateful, more generous and less materialistic.
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The Negative Trend of Speed Reading In this age of smartphones, Twitter and information scrolling at the bottom of TV screens, Americans are reading faster than ever. Thomas Newkirk, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of New Hampshire believes this is a negative trend, and that readers get greater enjoyment and comprehension when they read slowly. He talked about the reasons why people tend to skim text, and techniques they can use to slow down.
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Bonnie Halpern-Felsher Dr. Halpern-Felsher is a developmental psychologist whose research has focused on cognitive and psychosocial factors involved in adolescents’ and young adults’ health-related decision-making, perceptions of risk and vulnerability, health communication, and risk behavior. Her research has focused on understanding and reducing health risk behaviors such as tobacco use, alcohol and marijuana use, risky driving, and risky sexual behavior. Her research has been instrumental in changing how providers discuss sexual risk with adolescents and has influenced national policies regulating adolescent and young adult tobacco use. As part of the Tobacco Center's of Regulatory Science (TCORS), she is the PI on an NIH/NCI and FDA-funded longitudinal study examining adolescents’ and young adults’ perceptions regarding as well as initiation, continuation, and cessation of current and new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Dr. Halpern-Felsher is also the founder and director of the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, an online curricular aimed at reducing and preventing youth tobacco use. Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research and committee work have been instrumental in setting policy at the local, state, and national level. In California, Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research was cited in support of school-based tobacco education initiatives within California’s Tobacco Education Research Oversight Committee’s 2012 Masterplan, and again in their 2017 Masterplan. This Masterplan sets funding priority areas for research, education and intervention for California. Dr. Halpern-Felsher is also collaborating with the California Department of Education to develop, implement and evaluate new school-based tobacco prevention and education materials. At the national level, Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research was highlighted in the 2012 Surgeon General Report, ”Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults,” and Dr. Halpern-Felsher contributed to the chapter on Clinical interventions: The role of health care providers in the prevention of youth tobacco use. Dr. Halpern-Felsher has been a member of five Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Sciences committees focusing on adolescent and young adult health risk behavior. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and currently serves on the Council for the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), and Co-Chairs the SPR Mentoring Committee. In 2007, Dr. Halpern-Felsher became one of the Program Directors for the NIH/NIDDK-funded Short-Term Research Experience for Underrepresented Persons (STEP-UP), High School Program. She has received two NIH 5-year grants to coordinate this program thus far. For this Step-Up Program, Dr. Halpern-Felsher mentors and supervises 22-25 junior and senior high school students each year. These high students are recruited throughout the country, and conduct their 8-10 weeks of research in their hometown. In addition to mentoring high school students, Dr. Halpern-Felsher has been a mentor to over 75 graduate and medical students and postdoctoral fellows. Study on Juul e-cigarettes

Lan Nguyen Chaplin Lan Nguyen Chaplin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management), and her B.A. in biological basis of behavior with a concentration in behavioral medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she taught at Villanova School of Business, University of Arizona (Eller College of Management), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was also the Head Coach of the Illinois Women’s Lacrosse Club team. Professor Chaplin conducts research in the areas of children’s consumer behavior and branding. She publishes in journals including, Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Child Development, and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. Her research has been covered by TIME, Forbes, The New York Times, Fortune, ABC news radio, CBS news, Washington Times, Boston Globe, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Parenting, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, New York Magazine, Popular Science, Psychology Today, Spotify, Esquire Magazine, and Glamour. Her work on the development of materialism in children won one of the most prestigious awards in the marketing discipline—the ACR-Sheth award for public purpose research. She and her collaborators have presented their research throughout the USA and around the globe (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and Italy). She serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, and Journal of Positive Psychology. Professor Chaplin teaches at the Ph.D., MBA, and undergraduate levels and has received numerous teaching accolades. Most recently, she received the Dean's recognition for outstanding teaching at UIC Business. Lan Nguyen Chaplin, Ph.D. on LinkedIn