Impact of Vaping Prevention Advertisements

The 1-item mean attention measure assesses the extent to which a participant reports that an advertisement captures their attention. Response options range from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating stronger attention, which is considered a better outcome.

The 3-item Negative Affect Scale assesses the extent to which an advertisement elicits negative emotions from the participant, such as fear or disgust. Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the scores of the three items, resulting in a minimum possible score of 1 and a maximum of 5. Higher scores indicate stronger negative emotions. In the context of this assessment, higher negative emotions are considered a more effective (better) outcome.

The 3-item Mean Cognitive Elaboration Scale assesses the extent to which participants have thought about the addictiveness or harmfulness of vaping over the past 7 days. Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, with scores ranging from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5. Higher scores indicate greater cognitive elaboration, suggesting a more effective engagement with the content (a better outcome).

The 3-item Mean Social Interactions Scale assesses the extent to which a participant has discussed the addictiveness or harmfulness of vaping with others in the past 7 days. Response options range from 1 (0 times) to 6 (11 or more times). The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, resulting in a score range from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 6. Higher scores indicate more frequent social interactions, which are considered a better outcome.

The 3-item Vaping Health Harm Risk Beliefs Scale assesses the extent to which participants believe that vaping will lead to health harms. Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, with possible scores ranging from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5. Higher scores indicate stronger beliefs in the health risks associated with vaping, which is considered a better outcome.

The 3-item Vaping Addiction Risk Beliefs Scale assesses the extent to which participants believe that vaping will lead to addiction. Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, with a score range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate stronger beliefs in the risk of addiction due to vaping, which is considered a better outcome.

The 3-item Vaping Attitudes Scale assesses a participant's attitude towards vaping (e.g., good/bad). Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, with scores ranging from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude toward vaping, which is considered a less desirable outcome (i.e., worse outcome).

Participants will be asked to report the number of days they vaped over the past 21 days. We chose to retain the continuous measure of the number of days spent vaping rather than dichotomizing this outcome, due to the substantial variability observed in the number of days e-cigarettes were used. A higher value indicates more days that participants vaped, which is considered a less desirable outcome (i.e., worse outcome).

The 1-item Mean Smoking Health Harm Risk Belief Measure assesses the extent to which a participant believes that smoking will lead to health harms. Response options range from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating stronger beliefs in the health risks associated with smoking, which is considered a desirable outcome (i.e., better outcome).

The 1-item mean smoking health harm risk belief measure assesses the extent to which a participant believes that smoking will lead to health harms. Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a stronger health harm beliefs about smoking, which is a desirable outcome (i.e., better outcome).

The 1-item mean smoking attitude measure assesses a participant's attitude toward smoking (i.e., good/bad). Response options are on a 1 to 5 scale, with higher scores representing a more positive attitude toward smoking, which is considered as less desirable outcome (i.e., worse outcome).

The 3-item Mean Susceptibility to Smoking Cigarettes Scale assesses a participant's susceptibility to smoking cigarettes. Response options range from 1 to 5. The overall scale score is calculated by averaging the three items, with possible scores ranging from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate a stronger susceptibility to smoking, which is considered a less desirable outcome (i.e., worse outcome).

Participants will be asked to report the number of days they smoked cigarettes over the past 21 days. We chose to retain the continuous measure of the number of days smoking rather than dichotomizing this outcome, due to the substantial variability observed in the number of days cigarettes were used. A higher value indicates more days that participants smoked cigarettes, which is considered a less desirable outcome (i.e., worse outcome).