Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2021
Identifying emerging predictors for adolescent electronic nicotine delivery systems use: A machine learning analysis of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.
Intervention strategies to prevent adolescents from using electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) should be based on robust predictors of ENDS use that may differ from predictors of conventional cigarette use. Literature points to the need for uncovering emerging predictors of ENDS use. This study identified emerging predictors of adolescent ENDS use using machine learning (ML) techniques. ⋯ ML models appear to be a promising method to identify unique population-level predictors for U. S. adolescent ENDS use behaviors. More research is warranted to investigate emerging predictors of ENDS use and experimentally examine the mechanism by which these emerging predictors affect ENDS use behavior across different spectrum of populations.
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2021
An examination of preferred messengers on firearm safety for suicide prevention.
This study sought to determine differences in preferred messengers on the topic of safe firearm storage and suicide prevention between firearm owners and non-firearm owners, and among firearm owners of different racial groups and sexes. Participants were 6200 United States residents recruited via Qualtrics Panels to complete an online survey. Data were collected during March 2020. ⋯ Significant differences existed among the mean ranking of sources between firearm owners and non-firearm owners as well as between several subgroups of firearm owners. The identical ranking of the top three sources indicates that these groups agree on the relative credibility of multiple sources, although the average level of credibility for particular sources may vary. These findings highlight that the effectiveness of messaging on safe firearm storage may hinge on the identity of the individual delivering the message and provide an initial roadmap for how to consider packaging specific messages.