Mental Health and Tobacco Products: Relation and Factors
Advisor: Mr. John Hanlon
Internship Location: Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition
Onsite Mentor: Nathan Subramanian
The purpose of my project is to determine the extent to which someone’s mental health may have an impact on whether they use tobacco products. Tobacco product usage is a large issue in our society, as it leads to many health problems and lifelong addictions. Analyzing what entices people to begin usage could help eliminate such problems. If people use tobacco products with the belief that it improves mental health, we could learn how to create change to help those impacted. We could support others by devoting more attention to mental health and creating better mental health resources for society. Through my project, I will research the historical context behind the narratives that the tobacco industry has pushed, such as when they have claimed that tobacco products are not harmful. I’ll also analyze past data showing trends in mental health reports and tobacco product usage throughout Union City and the nation in order to determine a correlation between the two. Additionally, I plan to conduct a survey to determine Union City residents’ opinions on the topic and analyze the data that I gather. I will use all my research to create an informational campaign that counters false narratives from the tobacco industry and warns people of the dangers of tobacco usage.
Project Blog
Week 0: Introduction to My Project
Hi, everyone! Welcome to my first senior project blog, where I will be discussing the relation between mental health and tobacco products. I’ll start with an explanation of my interest in this topic and then talk about how I plan to execute my project.
My interest in this topic stems from my past work on the Union City Youth Commission, where I drafted stricter tobacco policies for Union City, which is where I grew up. Through my work, I heard many students report that their friends would vape in school bathrooms, and I recognized that there is a vaping epidemic among youth that needs to be fixed. I began working on creating stricter tobacco policies in January 2021 and continue to work on it, which is why the issue of tobacco product usage is so important to me. However, even if my recommended policies are enforced, people will always have some access to tobacco products, as they can in many cases just go to a different city to purchase them.
As a result, I want to look into ways to prevent (or at least curtail) tobacco usage from the demand/consumer’s side, and I have chosen to do that through my senior project. I want to examine what the possible reasons are behind tobacco usage and whether they have anything to do with people’s mental health. Hopefully, my research can provide information on ways, other than strict tobacco sale policies, to help reduce teen tobacco usage.
Through all my years advocating for stricter tobacco policies, I have had the opportunity to work with my external advisor, Nathan Subramanian, who is an employee of the Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition, which is a part of the Alameda County Public Health Department. He will be helping me access past data regarding mental health reports and tobacco product usage in Alameda County.
Additionally, after talking to my teachers and advisors, I have decided to expand my survey to residents of Alameda County, not just Union City. I will be administering an online survey where I will ask people about their tobacco product usage habits, as well as questions that would help me determine if they show symptoms of mental illnesses such as depression, stress, and anxiety. Through the data I collect, I will look for a correlation between mental health and tobacco product usage for the following age groups: 12-18, 19-25, 25-40, 40-60, and 60+. This data will be used to make informational campaigns for each of these age groups. I will finish designing this survey and begin sending it out during the first week of my project.
Be sure to read my next post for updates!
Week 1: Beginning My Survey
Hi, everyone! Welcome to my Week 1 blog post! This week I did two things: created my survey and researched how to administer my survey.
Creation of my survey:
My survey has 4 parts to it: a section with initial information, a section with questions about tobacco product usage, a section asking about indicators of depression and anxiety, and a section regarding the respondent’s beliefs about tobacco product usage.
In the initial information section, I am asking whether the respondent is an Alameda County resident, what their age is, and whether they have ever used tobacco products. In my survey, I am listing tobacco products as being cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes/vapes, cigars (premium cigars, little filtered cigars, and cigarillos), hookahs, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels, and dissolvables. All these products are defined as tobacco products according to the CDC. If the respondent reports using tobacco products, they will be asked about their tobacco product usage; if not, they will move on to the section asking about beliefs about tobacco product usage.
In the section regarding tobacco product usage, I am trying to get more information about the respondent’s habits. I ask which tobacco products the respondent uses, how frequently they use them, whether tobacco product usage has a positive impact on their life, whether they wish to quit/reduce, and whether a doctor has recommended they quit/reduce. While designing this part of the survey, I looked at many past surveys to determine how they had asked questions and I found that for different tobacco products, different questions are asked to determine frequency. However, to keep my survey simple for the respondent, I am asking for the frequency of usage of any tobacco product. Once the respondent has completed this section, they move on to the section with questions about depression and anxiety.
The section about depression and anxiety asks questions that can indicate symptoms of the mental disorders. I have certain questions that I will be asking adults above the age of 17 and another set of questions that I will be asking children 17 and under. In order to design this part of the survey I used a book Ms. Nagpal loaned me, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association. I spent time reading about different depressive and anxiety disorders and understanding their symptoms. I also learnt that there are other factors that can cause respondents to report similar symptoms. However, since I cannot access a respondent’s full medical history, I will have to accept that there are limitations to the information I can obtain through my survey. Additionally, the book linked me to a website that showed me a cross-cutting symptom measure for adults and children. This questionnaire can determine symptoms of many mental disorders, and I used the questions from it in my survey. After answering this section, the respondent will move on to the final section.
The final section is dedicated to determining what people believe the impacts of tobacco product usage are. I will ask the respondents to select whether they believe tobacco product usage worsens or helps with stress, anxiety, and depression.
Administering my survey:
Because I will be doing my survey online and in person, I spent time researching how I should administer my surveys. I created an online survey that I will be sending out soon. I also looked at many articles explaining how I should approach people and explain my survey. I researched different ways to do an in-person survey, such as using paper, using a device, or asking the respondents the questions myself. I hope to gather a wide range of respondents, so I plan to get respondents from many places, such as high schools, senior centers, libraries, and stores. Soon, I will start reaching out to people to ask them if I may administer my survey.
I’m happy with all the work that’s been done this week, and I loved learning more through my research. I am slightly nervous about getting responses from my survey, but I am determined to get a good sample size. Hopefully next week is just as exciting and I can’t wait to learn more!
Thanks for reading and hope to see you again!
Week 2: Finishing the Survey and Beginning Research
Hey, everyone! Welcome back to my Senior Project blog! Here’s what I’ve done since last time: edited my surveys, reached out to local organizations, and begun researching the narratives that the tobacco industry has pushed to people in the past.
Editing My Surveys:
By my last blog post, I had finished the first draft of my survey. With the help of my internal and external advisors, I have been able to refine it to make the questions clearer, make the survey easier for the respondent to read, and ensure that there is a logical flow that the respondent can follow as they take the survey. Now, my survey is completed and I’m ready to send them out!
Reaching Out to Organizations:
I have begun reaching out to schools, stores, libraries, and community centers through email. I’ve been asking if I can distribute my survey in person or whether they can distribute my survey online. After reaching out the first time, I had to follow up with many people, and I plan to call them soon. My external advisor will also help distribute my survey online through connections with advocacy groups throughout Alameda County. While my survey can be answered by anyone, I hope to get some responses from active tobacco product users and reach a good amount of people.
Researching Past Narratives:
In the past, the tobacco industry spread a lot of false narratives about tobacco products being good for users. I believe researching these narratives is very important to my project because it can help me determine how these ideas have been circulated throughout the years and how I can counter these narratives through the informational campaigns I will be creating later on in my project.
It started in the 1930s when it was not known that smoking cigarettes was harmful to health. Many people noticed that cigarettes caused throat irritation, but the tobacco industry would try to claim that their specific cigarettes caused less irritation. Many companies would sponsor doctors, give them free cigarettes, or mislead them in order to claim that the doctors supported their products. Finally, around the 1950’s, there was evidence that cigarettes were harmful to health and the industry could no longer claim that doctors supported smoking. However, the tobacco industry continued to deny this evidence, and until 1998 they told cigarette users that they were doing their own research to determine if cigarettes were actually harmful. While these events might have happened a long time ago, it shows that the tobacco industry has been trying to mislead people to get them to use their products.
In more recent times, the tobacco industry has promoted the idea that tobacco products have a positive impact on mental health. People who have mental health and substance use disorders make up 40% of cigarette smokers, and the tobacco industry has tried to capitalize off of that. In the past, they have given free cigarettes to psychiatric facilities and mental health groups. Additionally, the industry has funded research to claim that people with mental disorders use nicotine to help with their mental health, and they have interfered in other research by funding researchers and influencing the questions asked in order to get favorable answers. The industry spreads this idea that tobacco products have beneficial mental health impacts through their ads, where they try to link relaxation and tobacco product usage. Research has been done to show that the advertisements that the industry has spread have a large impact on an individual’s decision to use tobacco products. With all the research I have done, I plan to address these narratives spread by the industry and counter them with research showing the true mental health impacts of tobacco product usage.
I’m happy to have learnt so much this week and I’m excited to see what happens with my survey. I’m going to continue my research about past narratives from the tobacco industry, and next week I will be looking at past data showing trends of tobacco product usage and mental health. It was great learning about this incredible history, and I can’t wait to see how it has had an impact on our present. Thanks for reading!
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/cigarette-ads-doctors-smoking-endorsement
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1470496/
https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/m19_7.pdf
Week 3: Looking at the Trends
Hi, everyone! Welcome to my Senior Project Blog for Week 3! Since last time, I have continued researching past narratives that the tobacco industry has spread, and I began researching trends in mental health and tobacco product usage in Alameda County, other counties in the U.S., and the nation.
Researching Past Narratives:
As mentioned in my last blog post, the tobacco industry has spread many false narratives regarding the health effects of tobacco usage. I continued my research to find more instances of the tobacco industry’s false advertising.
The tobacco industry has a history of targeting the homeless, because they have often been more impacted by mental health issues. The industry would often give out free cigarettes to homeless shelters, and one company, Brown & Williamson, even named one of their products “Homeless Man.” The industry believes that the homeless are more vulnerable to misinformation, and as a result, they target the demographic and attempt to cause addictions.
Additionally, the tobacco industry has spread misinformation online about e-cigarettes by claiming they only contain water vapor and are not harmful to health. However, these products contain nicotine, a dangerous and addictive chemical. As stated in my last blog post, tobacco advertisements have a large impact on an individual’s decision to use the products, and this online misinformation has contributed to the increase in teen vaping over the past few years. It has also impacted adults, as one study found that people aged 18-24 who consumed misinformation about tobacco products on YouTube were more likely to have a positive view of the products than those who didn’t access that misinformation.
Trends of Mental Health and Tobacco Product Usage:
This week, I began looking at trends in tobacco product usage and mental health reports in Alameda County, other US counties, and the whole nation. While simply looking at the trends is not enough to determine a correlation, I checked whether the trends were generally growing or declining with each other.
First, I observed Alameda County, where I looked at a graph of “adults who smoke” and a graph of “adults needing and receiving behavioral health care services.” From 2020-2022, the rate for both of these indicators stayed at a fairly consistent rate, with both of them decreasing from 2018-2019 and both increasing in 2017. This shows that in the past few years, in Alameda County, the trend of adult smokers and the trend of adults who need behavioral healthcare services have been similar.
I also examined mental health and tobacco product usage in other U.S. counties. I aimed to look at counties that were extremely different from Alameda County, such as Breathitt County in Kentucky, which has a median household income of $32,259 compared to Alameda County’s median household income of $112,017. Breathitt County has a much higher “mental and substance use disorders mortality” rate and a higher “smoking” rate than Alameda County and the nation as a whole. This could indicate that in places where people have more mental disorders, they are more likely to use tobacco products.
In the U.S., mental health issues have become more prominent. As of 2022, 23.1% of adults, or 59.3 million people, had a mental health condition. In 2023, 53% of Americans reported mental health as the largest health problem in America. This is a significant increase from 2021, when about 35% of Americans reported it as the largest health problem. When looking at U.S. tobacco product usage, the trend differs based on age. Tobacco product usage has been shown to decrease in most age groups but has increased among some youth and those who are aged 65+. For these two age groups, the tobacco product usage trend follows the mental health trend. For the other age groups, there are likely other factors that play a larger role in declining mental health. However, I still believe it is important to examine tobacco product usage’s impact on mental health.
There are limitations to the trends I found, as there are many other factors, such as COVID, that can impact mental health. However, it was interesting to see the general trends in mental health and tobacco product usage. Next week, I will be researching tobacco product usage and mental health disorders in each of the following age groups: 12-17, 18-25, 25-40, 40-60, and 60+. I can’t wait to continue my research and share it with you. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next week!
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1748120/pdf/v014p00409.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/health-equity/behavioral-health/unfair-and-unjust.html
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7532322/
https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/mental-health-statistics/
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/breathitt-county-ky
https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dpqi/Documents/Final%20Cessation%20Survey%20Report.pdf
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2812427
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s1102-e-cigarettes-down.html
https://www.statista.com/chart/30995/biggest-health-concerns-among-americans/
Week 4: Researching the Causes
Hey, everyone! Welcome back to my Senior Project blog!
Since my project is focused on determining whether people use tobacco products to deal with mental health problems, I think it’s important to recognize what can actually cause these difficulties in the first place. That’s why this week I focused on identifying factors of stress, depression, and anxiety in each of the following age groups: 12-18, 19-24, 25-39, 40-60, and 60+. However, I also faced some challenges regarding my in-person survey.
Factors of stress, depression, and anxiety:
Knowing the factors of stress, depression, and anxiety can help me in making my informational posters because it will allow me to determine how to best target each group. I can discourage tobacco product usage while providing information on other ways for people to decrease stress, depression, and anxiety.
Among people aged 12-18, factors of stress include problems at home, such as family fights and divorce, and school pressure, such as with grades or social interactions. The main causes of depression are “biological factors, temperament, cognitive vulnerability, family factors, sociodemographic factors, academic factors, changing social milieu, school factors, and peer group influence” (Malhotra and Sahoo). Additionally, some factors of anxiety among this age group are high expectations, fear of disapproval from their parents, and the fear of not being accepted by peers. This age group is considered to have one of the highest rates for mental health problems, and that rate only continues to increase.
Those aged 19-24 have reported that the increase in suicide rates, the increase in news about sexual harassment, changes in abortion laws, and the political future of the nation have caused them large amounts of stress. Additionally, some people in this age group are in school, meaning they also face stress from school, and many of them worry about their finances and finding a job and house. This age group is considered to experience the most stress. Additionally, they experience the most major depressive episodes. Some factors contributing to depression include an increase in stress, genetics, pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, and loneliness. This group also faces the most anxiety, with the most common causes being genetics and traumatic experiences.
People ages 25-39 experience less stress than those younger than them, but some factors of stress include taking on new roles as they move up in their career and start to establish families by getting married and having children. Causes of depression in this group are quite similar to those aged 19-24, such as pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, loneliness, and relationships. Additionally, some factors of anxiety include uncertainty about the future, such as a fear that they will not have enough money to make payments such as rent.
Those who are 40-60 years old begin to learn how to manage the different roles in their lives, such as work and family, but fear of the development of health problems can cause stress among this age group. One large factor in depression among this age group can be a mid-life crisis. Around this age, many people experience a transition in their values and priorities. For example, some people may wish to go back to school after having children. Sometimes, this transition can lead to a mid-life crisis, and people may experience changes in sleep habits and a loss of interest in hobbies, which can lead to depression. Factors of anxiety also include the mid-life crisis, as well as the death of a parent, children leaving the home, and health scares.
In younger people, mental health is rapidly declining, and there are many factors that these people cannot control, which cause stress, depression, and anxiety. As people age, they start to learn how to handle their environmental factors, manage their relationships and work, and do better in the workplace, which can decrease stress, depression, and anxiety.
In-Person Survey Challenges:
My in-person survey requires that I go to public areas and administer my survey. However, in order to do this, I need permission from those whose property I am using. Over the past few weeks, I have been contacting organizations to ask them if I can use their property; however, a lot of the stores have asked me to reach out to their corporate offices, and the community centers have asked me to get approval through the city. I will attempt to go through these processes, and hopefully I will be allowed to do my in-person survey. If not, I am hopeful that my online survey has enough respondents.
By the end of this week, I will have completed my research on factors of stress, anxiety, and depression in those aged 60+. I’ll be sure to report my findings in my next blog post, so stay tuned to read that! Additionally, next week I will research the mental health impacts of tobacco product usage. I’m excited to see what I learn and how I can use it in my informational campaigns. Thanks for reading!
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6198600/
https://www.apa.org/topics/children/stress
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3018839/
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report-october
https://www.cardiacscreen.co.uk/blog/why-do-young-adults-get-more-stressed/
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/depression-in-adults/causes/
https://www.newportinstitute.com/programs/anxiety/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01650254221150887?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.5
https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/midlife-crisis-opportunity
Week 5: Finishing Research
Welcome to my Week 5 Senior Project blog! In my last blog post, I stated that I would discuss factors of stress, anxiety, and depression for my final age group, people who are 60+. I finished off last week by taking a look at which age groups most commonly use certain types of tobacco products. This week, I finished researching the correlation between mental health and tobacco product usage.
Factors of stress, anxiety, depression in people over 60:
For people who are 60+, a lot of stress can come from changes that they have to learn to adjust to. For example, some of them might have to look for senior housing, some might have to learn how to live at home alone, and some might have to adjust to the new technology that is becoming more prominent in our world. Some other factors of stress include chronic illness, loss, grief, loneliness and boredom, finances, and major life changes such as retirement. Stress has a large impact on this age group because it causes inflammation and health problems, reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, and accelerates aging. Factors of depression for this age group are medical conditions, genetics, stress, sleeping problems, loneliness and boredom, a lack of exercise or physical activity, an inability to complete daily activities, and alcohol use. People in this age group are not as likely to experience depression as those younger than them. Factors of anxiety include financial issues, health problems, immobility, chronic pain, dementia, loneliness and isolation, a lack of independence, end-of-life planning, grief, loss, trauma, and stress.
Age groups that most commonly use certain types of tobacco products:
Among adults, those aged 25-44 are more likely to use any type of tobacco product, followed by 45-64 year-olds, then 18-24 year-olds, and finally those aged 65+. Cigarettes are most commonly used in 45-64 year-olds and e-cigarettes are most common in teens, followed by adults aged 18-24. Cigars are most commonly used among those who are 25-44 years old, smokeless tobacco is most common in those aged 45-64, and nicotine pouches are mostly used by teens and young adults. Pipes are most common in 25-44 year-olds, and adults aged 18-24 years make up 66% of daily/weekly hookah users.
Correlation between mental health and tobacco product usage:
As of 2021, around 18.7%, or 46 million, of Americans were current users of a tobacco product. In 2019, the percentage of U.S. adults who had smoked cigarettes in the past month was 1.8 times higher for people with mental illnesses than for people without mental illnesses. Around 70-85% of people with schizophrenia and around 50-70% of people with bipolar disorder are smokers. Around 25% of U.S. adults have some form of mental illness or substance use disorder, and they smoke around 40% of all cigarettes smoked by adults. The data shows that a lot of people with mental illnesses use tobacco products because they believe it helps with their illnesses, but studies have actually shown that quitting has a positive effect on mental health. A few months after people stop smoking, their anxiety and depression levels are generally lower than they were while smoking.
People with mental illnesses are especially vulnerable to tobacco products because of the presence of nicotine. This addictive chemical temporarily reduces the symptoms of mental illnesses such as poor concentration, bad mood, and stress. This can lead people to believe that tobacco products are helping with their mental illness, when in reality, the products only temporarily relieve the symptoms. It is also harder for people with mental illnesses to quit tobacco usage because withdrawal can lead to things such as an increased heart rate, which could trigger a panic attack. Because a large number of people with mental illnesses are of a low socioeconomic status, they are also less likely to have access to medical care and resources that could help them quit smoking. So while a lot of people do use tobacco products to deal with mental illnesses, the products only make the illnesses worse.
I’ve really enjoyed researching for the past few weeks, and I can’t wait to put all my information into my posters. I will end this week by researching how to make informational campaigns for each of the age groups, and next week I will begin designing! Thanks for reading!
Sources:
https://www.ncoa.org/article/stress-and-how-to-reduce-it-a-guide-for-older-adults
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/mental-and-emotional-health/depression-and-older-adults
https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/what-to-know-about-anxiety-in-older-adults
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9322506/
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db475.htm
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10168602/
https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article/20/6/731/3064155
Week 6: How E-cigarettes Have Developed
Hey, everyone! Welcome to my Week 6 Senior Project Blog. I was originally planning on designing my informational posters this week, but I’ve decided to delay it while I get more data for my survey. So instead, this week I have been reading The Devil’s Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation, and I will end the week by reading Tobacco: Through the Smoke Screen.
Through my reading, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about the rise of Juul, a type of e-cigarette. It contains fewer chemicals than a regular cigarette, which has led to it being marketed as less harmful. Additionally, rather than emitting smoke, Juuls emit a vapor and don’t leave ashtray residue. However, the most appealing aspect of Juul would probably be the candy, dessert, and fruit flavors that are in the nicotine pods. The founders of Juul have long marketed their product as a safer alternative to cigarettes and have claimed that the product helps people, as smokers can switch to their products to reduce the harm to their health. In reality, e-cigarettes have ATTRACTED many teens to tobacco products. A 2023 survey found that 7.7% of middle and high school students, or 2.13 million students, used e-cigarettes, and among those students, 89.4% used flavors.
It all began in 2005, when two graduate students at Stanford, Adam Bowen and James Monsees, decided to design electronic cigarettes called Ploom for their final thesis project. In 2007, they started a business called Ploom, and in 2015, the company was sold and its name changed to PaxLabs, where the Juul was created. At the time, scientists had already published research showing the detrimental impacts of cigarettes, so Bowen and Monsees decided to create a product that wouldn’t receive as much backlash. They studied previous tobacco companies and their attempts to make less harmful cigarettes, and they finally designed battery-operated vaporizers that turned liquid nicotine into vapor. Because these products were so new and had not been seen before, they were not restricted by any laws and grew greatly in popularity. There were no restrictions on advertisements, and they were seen in magazines, TV, and social media. Around 2015, Juul even bought ads on websites like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, which served to attract the youth.
E-cigarettes came to be used much more than cigarettes, and this caused a vaping epidemic among young people, who were especially attracted to these flavors and believed e-cigarettes weren’t as harsh or as harmful as regular cigarettes. Many people recognized this problem and as a result, some legislation has been passed to ban these products. In January 2020, the FDA banned pre-filled vape pods, like Juul, but excluded refillable flavored vapes and disposable flavored vapes because of resistance from the tobacco industry. Some states have created or are working on creating their own legislation regarding flavored tobacco products, but the tobacco industry continues to fight for fewer restrictions. Overall, e-cigarettes have still had a very large, negative impact on the youth and have drawn in many people through the new flavors, design, and marketing of the products.
Although this information is troubling, I am glad that I have had the chance to research the tobacco industry and all its tactics so that I can spread awareness about tobacco products. I will be sure to use my learnings to design my informational posters, which I will be doing next week. Thanks for reading!
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7244a1.htm?s_cid=mm7244a1_w
Week 7: Designing My Posters
Welcome to my Week 7 Senior Project Blog! I have quite a few updates for this post, as last week I finished reading the book Tobacco: Through the Smoke Screen, this week I began designing my informational posters, and last weekend I had the chance to administer my survey in person.
Tobacco: Through the Smoke Screen:
This book discusses the history of tobacco and how its use in society has changed over time. Tobacco originated in the Americas around 6000 BCE, and Native Americans used tobacco as a medicine, sacred plant, and even currency. Originally, tobacco was smoked with the intent of keeping away pests because of the nicotine in it, but then it became a way to keep away evil spirits. When Europeans first discovered tobacco, they were scared of the smoke that would come out of the user's mouth and nose, but over time they began to value tobacco and it became a cash crop for English colonies in the Americas.
Soon after, many companies sought to take advantage of the tobacco product and they developed the tools needed for mass production, which allowed them to produce many cigarettes. These major companies, often referred to as “Big Tobacco”, were able to sell their products during the World Wars, marketing their products as relaxing or representative of freedom. The tobacco industry continued glamorizing smoking through celebrities, film, and television. However, once researchers proved that tobacco negatively impacted users’ health, the government banned tobacco companies from paying for advertisements on radio and TV, though the industry used untraceable methods of payment, such as cash and jewelry, instead. The industry was also forced to put warning labels on their products.
Additionally, the book discusses how tobacco products impact the human brain. Once a person inhales tobacco product smoke, the nicotine in the product reaches the brain and affects communication between neurons. Nicotine causes an increase in energy levels and releases dopamine, which leads the user to feel more calm and happy. It also increases the production of endorphins, which can cause euphoria and make the user less aware of any pain. However, these good feelings don’t last for too long, and nicotine can end up causing anxiety and depression. It causes many other health problems, such as cancer, strokes, the cold and flu, and infertility. Tobacco has evolved from being used in sacred ceremonies to a product that addicts people and causes many health problems.
Informational Posters:
For my informational posters, I will be designing posters for all my different age groups: 12-18, 19-24, 25-39, 40-60, and 60+. So far, I have begun working on the posters for the age groups of 12-18, 19-24, and 25-39. Using the research I did on how to best appeal to each of these age groups, I have been trying to design engaging posters and display information that is likely to resonate with each group.
Survey:
Last Saturday, I attended the Ohlone College Flea Market’s Youth-preneur event and had the opportunity to survey people in person. It was interesting to hear people’s thought processes as they filled out my survey. Some ex-tobacco product users told me they found the products relaxing, while some said they were horrible and only tried them because of peer pressure. I found this experience to be quite useful, as I was able to interact with my respondents and learn more than I could through an online survey. I’d like to thank Mr. Hanlon for informing me of this incredible opportunity and for supporting me through this new experience.
I’m so happy to have learned so much through my research and survey, and I can’t wait to continue working on my posters. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Week 8: Continuing My Posters
Hi, everyone! Welcome to my Week 8 blog post! This week’s post isn’t too long; it’s just an update on my informational posters for each of my age groups: 12-18, 19-24, 25-39, 40-60, and 60+.
I’ve been using my research on the ways to effectively appeal to each audience to design my posters, and I have targeted each audience by factoring in the type of tobacco products they use and the causes of mental health disorders in their lives. I am attempting to counter false narratives spread by the tobacco industry while providing information about the actual mental health impacts of tobacco products. My posters are spreading awareness about tactics the industry uses to appeal to people and encouraging people to not fall for these tactics.
In my current poster for ages 12-18, included in this post, I decided to talk about how just trying a tobacco product can lead to an addiction, so they shouldn’t let peer pressure convince them to make a life-altering mistake. Additionally, I wanted to give the audience an understanding of how big of an issue tobacco product usage is. They may not be aware of how many teens use tobacco products or how many people die from smoking, which is why I decided to give them background on the topic. I also provided some information about vapes and flavored tobacco products, which are especially popular among teens, to tell the audience they are not as safe as the tobacco industry may make them seem.
I love that I’m able to take all my research from the past few weeks and put it together to create an end product that can inform people. I’m also excited for next week, when I will end my survey and begin analyzing my responses. Thanks for reading!
Week 9: Analyzing My Survey
Hey, everyone! Welcome to my Senior Project blog for Week 9. This week I was analyzing the results from my survey, and I will be sharing some of my findings.
Online, I had 67 responses from people aged 12-18, 8 responses from people aged 19-24, 12 responses from people aged 25-39, 4 responses from people aged 40-60, and 1 response from people aged 60+. In person, I had 2 responses from people aged 12-18, 2 responses from people aged 19-24, 3 responses from people aged 25-39, 8 responses from people aged 40-60, and 4 responses from people aged 60+.
32 respondents reported having used a tobacco product before. The amount of people who had reported using each type of tobacco product was 50% for cigarettes, 12.5% for cigarette tobacco, about 9.4% for roll-your-own tobacco, about 9.4% for smokeless tobacco, around 53.1% for electronic cigarettes/vapes, 25% for cigars, 25% for hookahs, 6.25% for nicotine gels, 6.25% for nicotine pouches, around 3.1% for dissolvables, and none for pipe tobacco.
12 respondents reported being current users. Of these 12, 7 said tobacco product usage has a positive impact on their life, 5 said they would like to quit, and 6 said a doctor has recommended them to quit. 7 of the current users answered the adult mental health questions while 5 answered the under 18 questions. In order to analyze my responses, I used The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association, which is where I got my survey questions from. I found that, out of the adults, 6 showed symptoms of anxiety and 4 showed symptoms of depression. Out of the children, 4 showed symptoms of anxiety and 1 showed symptoms of depression. This shows that most of the tobacco product users who took my survey showed symptoms of a mental disorder.
All my respondents were asked to answer questions about their beliefs on tobacco products and 40% of respondents said they reduce stress, 32% said they reduce anxiety, 14% said they help with depression, 61% said they increase stress, 68% said they increase anxiety, and 63% said they worsen depression. While most people did say they believe tobacco products have a negative impact on mental health, people who had used tobacco products or are current users were more likely to say that tobacco products help alleviate these mental disorders.
It’s been so exciting analyzing the results of my survey, which has been going on for about 6 weeks. My findings mostly support the idea that people might use tobacco products because of mental disorders, and I can’t wait to include my results when presenting all my research. Next week, I will be finishing my posters and presentation. See you all in my next post!
Week 10: The End
Hello, everyone! Welcome to my last Senior Project blog post! I have completed all my posters and now I am preparing for my presentation on May 18.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people who have supported me through my project. Thank you to Ms. Nagpal for guiding me through the Senior Project process, Mr. Hanlon for helping me plan my Senior Project and encouraging me to persevere and step out of my comfort zone through my in-person survey, and finally my external advisor, Nathan Subramanian, who also helped me plan my project and distribute my online survey.
Thanks for reading my blogs and hope you enjoy my posters below!
Target Range: 12-18
Target Range: 19-24
Target Range: 25-39
Target Range: 40-60
Target Range: 60+
