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Papers by CAROLINE WRIGHT
JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 2021
Background Information and misinformation on the internet about e-cigarette harms may increase sm... more Background Information and misinformation on the internet about e-cigarette harms may increase smokers’ misperceptions of e-cigarettes. There is limited research on smokers’ engagement with information and misinformation about e-cigarettes on social media. Objective This study assessed smokers’ likelihood to engage with—defined as replying, retweeting, liking, and sharing—tweets that contain information and misinformation and uncertainty about the harms of e-cigarettes. Methods We conducted a web-based randomized controlled trial among 2400 UK and US adult smokers who did not vape in the past 30 days. Participants were randomly assigned to view four tweets in one of four conditions: (1) e-cigarettes are as harmful or more harmful than smoking, (2) e-cigarettes are completely harmless, (3) uncertainty about e-cigarette harms, or (4) control (physical activity). The outcome measure was participants’ likelihood of engaging with tweets, which comprised the sum of whether they would repl...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
There is a gap in knowledge on the affective mechanisms underlying effects of exposure to health ... more There is a gap in knowledge on the affective mechanisms underlying effects of exposure to health misinformation. This study aimed to understand whether discrete emotional responses and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes versus smoking mediate the effect of exposure to tweets about the harms of e-cigarettes on Twitter and intention to purchase e-cigarettes among adult smokers. We conducted a web-based experiment in November 2019 among 2400 adult smokers who were randomly assigned to view one of four conditions of tweets containing different levels of misinformation. We fitted mediation models using structural equation modeling and bootstrap procedures to assess the indirect effects of exposure to tweets through perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes and six discrete emotions. Our findings support that exposure to tweets about harms of e-cigarettes influence intention to purchase e-cigarettes through perceived relative harm, discrete emotional responses, and serially through emo...
BMJ Open, 2021
ObjectivesTo assess the effect of exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms found on Twi... more ObjectivesTo assess the effect of exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms found on Twitter on adult current smokers’ intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarettes and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with regular cigarettes.SettingAn online randomised controlled experiment conducted in November 2019 among USA and UK current smokers.Participants2400 adult current smokers aged ≥18 years who were not current e-cigarette users recruited from an online panel. Participants’ were randomised in a 1:1:1:1 ratio using a least-fill randomiser function.InterventionsViewing 4 tweets in random order within one of four conditions: (1) e-cigarettes are just as or more harmful than smoking, (2) e-cigarettes are completely harmless, (3) e-cigarette harms are uncertain, and (4) a control condition of tweets about physical activity.Primary outcomes measuresSelf-reported post-test intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarett...
Previous research on the relationship between childrens externalising and depressive symptoms, ex... more Previous research on the relationship between childrens externalising and depressive symptoms, experience of school, and later academic attainment is inconclusive. The present study uses data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n=6,409) to investigate bidirectional associations between school experience (enjoyment and connectedness) and externalising and depressive symptoms at age 10-11 and 13-14. We also investigate the relationship between school experience and academic attainment at 16 and test whether school experience mediates associations of externalising and depressive symptoms with later attainment. A cross-lagged structural equation model was employed. Externalising and depressive symptoms at 10-11 were negatively associated with school connectedness at 13-14 (externalizing: standardised β=-0.13, CI: -0.17, -0.08; depressive: β=-0.06, CI: -0.11, 0.01), and with school enjoyment at 13-14 (externalising: β=-0.08, CI: -0.13, -0.03; depressive β=-0.04, -0....
BMC Cancer, 2021
Background An estimated 40% of cancer cases in the UK in 2015 were attributable to cancer risk be... more Background An estimated 40% of cancer cases in the UK in 2015 were attributable to cancer risk behaviours. Tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, and unprotected sexual intercourse are known causes of cancer and there is strong evidence that physical inactivity is associated with cancer. These cancer risk behaviours co-occur however little is known about how they pattern longitudinally across adolescence and early adulthood. Using data from ALSPAC, a prospective population-based UK birth cohort study, we explored patterns of adolescent cancer risk behaviours and their associations with cancer risk behaviours in early adulthood. Methods Six thousand three hundred fifty-one people (46.0% of ALSPAC participants) provided data on all cancer risk behaviours at one time during adolescence, 1951 provided data on all cancer risk behaviours at all time points. Our exposure measure was quartiles of a continuous score summarising cumulative exposure to cancer risk behaviours and longit...
Psychological Medicine, 2020
BackgroundIt is not clear to what extent associations between schizophrenia, cannabis use and cig... more BackgroundIt is not clear to what extent associations between schizophrenia, cannabis use and cigarette use are due to a shared genetic etiology. We, therefore, examined whether schizophrenia genetic risk associates with longitudinal patterns of cigarette and cannabis use in adolescence and mediating pathways for any association to inform potential reduction strategies.MethodsAssociations between schizophrenia polygenic scores and longitudinal latent classes of cigarette and cannabis use from ages 14 to 19 years were investigated in up to 3925 individuals in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Mediation models were estimated to assess the potential mediating effects of a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral phenotypes.ResultsThe schizophrenia polygenic score, based on single nucleotide polymorphisms meeting a training-set p threshold of 0.05, was associated with late-onset cannabis use (OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.08,1.41), but not with cigarette or early-onset c...
Preventive Medicine, 2020
Adolescents' engage in new behaviours such as substance use and change others, such as reducing p... more Adolescents' engage in new behaviours such as substance use and change others, such as reducing physical activity. Risks to health from these tend to be considered separately. We examined the association between multiple risk behaviours at age 16 years and outcomes in early adulthood. 5591 young people enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children provided data on at least one of seven adverse outcomes at age~18 years. We used logistic regression to examine associations between total number of risk behaviours and rates of depression, anxiety, problem gambling, getting into trouble with the police, harmful drinking, obesity and not in education, employment or training (NEET) at age 18 years. We found strong associations between multiple risk behaviours and all seven adverse outcomes.
Behaviours 1, 2017
To explore the association between adolescent multiple risk behaviours (MRB) and educational atta... more To explore the association between adolescent multiple risk behaviours (MRB) and educational attainment. Design: Prospective population-based UK birth cohort study. Setting: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a UK birth cohort of children born in 1991-92. Participants: Data on some or all MRB measures were available for 5,401 ALSPAC participants who attended a clinic at age 15 years and/or completed a detailed questionnaire at age 16 years. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data. Primary outcome measures: Capped General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) score and odds of attaining five or more GCSE examinations at grades A*-C. Both outcome measures come from the National Pupil Database (NPD) and were linked to the ALSPAC data. Results: Engagement in MRB was strongly associated with poorer educational attainment. Each additional risk equated to-6.31 (95% CI-7.03,-5.58, p<0.001) in capped GCSE score, equivalent to a one grade reduction, or reduced odds of attaining five or more A*-C grades of 23% (OR 0•77, 95% CI: 0•74-0•81, p<0.001). The average cohort member engaged in 3•24 MRB and therefore have an associated reduction in GCSE score equivalent to three and a half grades in one examination, or reduced odds of attaining five or more A*-C grades of 75%. Conclusion: Engagement in adolescent MRB is strongly associated with poorer educational attainment at 16 years. Preventing MRB could improve educational attainment and thereby directly and indirectly improve longer term health.
Journal of Education Policy, 2014
Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a resu... more Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of longitudinal studies that demonstrate the importance of the first few years in a child's development and educational experience. In 2004, a new approach to early years education, the Foundation Phase, was introduced in Wales. This is a major flagship policy of the recently devolved Welsh Government, and marks a radical departure from the more assessment-driven competency-based approaches to early childhood education that existed prior to the Foundation Phase. Studying approximately 2000 children in Wales who are part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), all born in 2000-2001 we investigate the potential impact of the Foundation Phase pilot on a range of key academic and well-being outcome measures. Compared with other children, those attending a Foundation Phase pilot school tended to have lower scores in a number of academic assessments at age seven and lower subjective well-being, in terms of their attitudes to learning and well-being at school. We consider these surprising, yet concerning, results in the context of the methodological limitations to this analysis and propose how the MCS can be further used to substantiate these findings.
It is sometimes said that the use of multilevel models over OLS regression makes no substantive d... more It is sometimes said that the use of multilevel models over OLS regression makes no substantive difference to interpretation and represents something of a fuss over nothing. This short paper demonstrates with a simple example that this is not always the case.
Support for Learning, 2009
JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 2021
Background Information and misinformation on the internet about e-cigarette harms may increase sm... more Background Information and misinformation on the internet about e-cigarette harms may increase smokers’ misperceptions of e-cigarettes. There is limited research on smokers’ engagement with information and misinformation about e-cigarettes on social media. Objective This study assessed smokers’ likelihood to engage with—defined as replying, retweeting, liking, and sharing—tweets that contain information and misinformation and uncertainty about the harms of e-cigarettes. Methods We conducted a web-based randomized controlled trial among 2400 UK and US adult smokers who did not vape in the past 30 days. Participants were randomly assigned to view four tweets in one of four conditions: (1) e-cigarettes are as harmful or more harmful than smoking, (2) e-cigarettes are completely harmless, (3) uncertainty about e-cigarette harms, or (4) control (physical activity). The outcome measure was participants’ likelihood of engaging with tweets, which comprised the sum of whether they would repl...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
There is a gap in knowledge on the affective mechanisms underlying effects of exposure to health ... more There is a gap in knowledge on the affective mechanisms underlying effects of exposure to health misinformation. This study aimed to understand whether discrete emotional responses and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes versus smoking mediate the effect of exposure to tweets about the harms of e-cigarettes on Twitter and intention to purchase e-cigarettes among adult smokers. We conducted a web-based experiment in November 2019 among 2400 adult smokers who were randomly assigned to view one of four conditions of tweets containing different levels of misinformation. We fitted mediation models using structural equation modeling and bootstrap procedures to assess the indirect effects of exposure to tweets through perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes and six discrete emotions. Our findings support that exposure to tweets about harms of e-cigarettes influence intention to purchase e-cigarettes through perceived relative harm, discrete emotional responses, and serially through emo...
BMJ Open, 2021
ObjectivesTo assess the effect of exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms found on Twi... more ObjectivesTo assess the effect of exposure to misinformation about e-cigarette harms found on Twitter on adult current smokers’ intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarettes and perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with regular cigarettes.SettingAn online randomised controlled experiment conducted in November 2019 among USA and UK current smokers.Participants2400 adult current smokers aged ≥18 years who were not current e-cigarette users recruited from an online panel. Participants’ were randomised in a 1:1:1:1 ratio using a least-fill randomiser function.InterventionsViewing 4 tweets in random order within one of four conditions: (1) e-cigarettes are just as or more harmful than smoking, (2) e-cigarettes are completely harmless, (3) e-cigarette harms are uncertain, and (4) a control condition of tweets about physical activity.Primary outcomes measuresSelf-reported post-test intention to quit smoking cigarettes, intention to purchase e-cigarett...
Previous research on the relationship between childrens externalising and depressive symptoms, ex... more Previous research on the relationship between childrens externalising and depressive symptoms, experience of school, and later academic attainment is inconclusive. The present study uses data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n=6,409) to investigate bidirectional associations between school experience (enjoyment and connectedness) and externalising and depressive symptoms at age 10-11 and 13-14. We also investigate the relationship between school experience and academic attainment at 16 and test whether school experience mediates associations of externalising and depressive symptoms with later attainment. A cross-lagged structural equation model was employed. Externalising and depressive symptoms at 10-11 were negatively associated with school connectedness at 13-14 (externalizing: standardised β=-0.13, CI: -0.17, -0.08; depressive: β=-0.06, CI: -0.11, 0.01), and with school enjoyment at 13-14 (externalising: β=-0.08, CI: -0.13, -0.03; depressive β=-0.04, -0....
BMC Cancer, 2021
Background An estimated 40% of cancer cases in the UK in 2015 were attributable to cancer risk be... more Background An estimated 40% of cancer cases in the UK in 2015 were attributable to cancer risk behaviours. Tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity, and unprotected sexual intercourse are known causes of cancer and there is strong evidence that physical inactivity is associated with cancer. These cancer risk behaviours co-occur however little is known about how they pattern longitudinally across adolescence and early adulthood. Using data from ALSPAC, a prospective population-based UK birth cohort study, we explored patterns of adolescent cancer risk behaviours and their associations with cancer risk behaviours in early adulthood. Methods Six thousand three hundred fifty-one people (46.0% of ALSPAC participants) provided data on all cancer risk behaviours at one time during adolescence, 1951 provided data on all cancer risk behaviours at all time points. Our exposure measure was quartiles of a continuous score summarising cumulative exposure to cancer risk behaviours and longit...
Psychological Medicine, 2020
BackgroundIt is not clear to what extent associations between schizophrenia, cannabis use and cig... more BackgroundIt is not clear to what extent associations between schizophrenia, cannabis use and cigarette use are due to a shared genetic etiology. We, therefore, examined whether schizophrenia genetic risk associates with longitudinal patterns of cigarette and cannabis use in adolescence and mediating pathways for any association to inform potential reduction strategies.MethodsAssociations between schizophrenia polygenic scores and longitudinal latent classes of cigarette and cannabis use from ages 14 to 19 years were investigated in up to 3925 individuals in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Mediation models were estimated to assess the potential mediating effects of a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral phenotypes.ResultsThe schizophrenia polygenic score, based on single nucleotide polymorphisms meeting a training-set p threshold of 0.05, was associated with late-onset cannabis use (OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.08,1.41), but not with cigarette or early-onset c...
Preventive Medicine, 2020
Adolescents' engage in new behaviours such as substance use and change others, such as reducing p... more Adolescents' engage in new behaviours such as substance use and change others, such as reducing physical activity. Risks to health from these tend to be considered separately. We examined the association between multiple risk behaviours at age 16 years and outcomes in early adulthood. 5591 young people enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children provided data on at least one of seven adverse outcomes at age~18 years. We used logistic regression to examine associations between total number of risk behaviours and rates of depression, anxiety, problem gambling, getting into trouble with the police, harmful drinking, obesity and not in education, employment or training (NEET) at age 18 years. We found strong associations between multiple risk behaviours and all seven adverse outcomes.
Behaviours 1, 2017
To explore the association between adolescent multiple risk behaviours (MRB) and educational atta... more To explore the association between adolescent multiple risk behaviours (MRB) and educational attainment. Design: Prospective population-based UK birth cohort study. Setting: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a UK birth cohort of children born in 1991-92. Participants: Data on some or all MRB measures were available for 5,401 ALSPAC participants who attended a clinic at age 15 years and/or completed a detailed questionnaire at age 16 years. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data. Primary outcome measures: Capped General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) score and odds of attaining five or more GCSE examinations at grades A*-C. Both outcome measures come from the National Pupil Database (NPD) and were linked to the ALSPAC data. Results: Engagement in MRB was strongly associated with poorer educational attainment. Each additional risk equated to-6.31 (95% CI-7.03,-5.58, p<0.001) in capped GCSE score, equivalent to a one grade reduction, or reduced odds of attaining five or more A*-C grades of 23% (OR 0•77, 95% CI: 0•74-0•81, p<0.001). The average cohort member engaged in 3•24 MRB and therefore have an associated reduction in GCSE score equivalent to three and a half grades in one examination, or reduced odds of attaining five or more A*-C grades of 75%. Conclusion: Engagement in adolescent MRB is strongly associated with poorer educational attainment at 16 years. Preventing MRB could improve educational attainment and thereby directly and indirectly improve longer term health.
Journal of Education Policy, 2014
Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a resu... more Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of longitudinal studies that demonstrate the importance of the first few years in a child's development and educational experience. In 2004, a new approach to early years education, the Foundation Phase, was introduced in Wales. This is a major flagship policy of the recently devolved Welsh Government, and marks a radical departure from the more assessment-driven competency-based approaches to early childhood education that existed prior to the Foundation Phase. Studying approximately 2000 children in Wales who are part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), all born in 2000-2001 we investigate the potential impact of the Foundation Phase pilot on a range of key academic and well-being outcome measures. Compared with other children, those attending a Foundation Phase pilot school tended to have lower scores in a number of academic assessments at age seven and lower subjective well-being, in terms of their attitudes to learning and well-being at school. We consider these surprising, yet concerning, results in the context of the methodological limitations to this analysis and propose how the MCS can be further used to substantiate these findings.
It is sometimes said that the use of multilevel models over OLS regression makes no substantive d... more It is sometimes said that the use of multilevel models over OLS regression makes no substantive difference to interpretation and represents something of a fuss over nothing. This short paper demonstrates with a simple example that this is not always the case.
Support for Learning, 2009