Now Playing: The Real Risks of Teen Vaping

story insights

Feb 11

Written By Barrett Whitener, M.F.A., M.A.

Now Playing: The Real Risks of Teen Vaping

People are more likely to start using drugs in their teen years and young adulthood (18–25) than at any other age. Some of the physical, emotional, and social changes that teens experience can make them especially vulnerable to engaging in risky behaviors, including drug use.

Scientific research has repeatedly found that using drugs presents serious health risks for teens—risks that can have lifelong consequences. Yet teens often underestimate the health risks involved in using drugs. As one example, let’s look at a form of drug use that has become increasingly popular with teens: vaping (using e-cigarettes).

How many teens vape?

Every year since 1975, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has funded a nationwide survey--Monitoring the Future (MTF)—to measure drug and alcohol use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. In 2019, more than 42,000 students from almost 400 schools across the United States answered confidential questionnaires for MTF.

MTF found that vaping has increased dramatically among teens in recent years. Teens’ vaping of nicotine—the addictive ingredient in tobacco—rose in 2019, and there was a rapid rise in vaping of marijuana: About a fifth of 12th graders and 10th graders reported vaping marijuana in the past year.

In fact, from 2018 to 2019, the percentage of high school seniors who reported that they had vaped marijuana in the past 30 days increased from 7.5 percent to 14 percent—the second-largest one-year increase in any drug use that MTF has recorded in its 45-year history.

Why do teens vape?

Some vaping devices, like the e-cigarette Juul, have a sleek design—similar to a flash drive—that may look “cool” to some teens. That design can also help teens conceal their use of vaping devices at school.

In the 2019 MTF survey, respondents gave several other reasons for vaping. More than 40 percent said they tried vaping for the flavors. Others said they tried it just to experiment, or to have a good time with friends, or simply because they were bored. However, more than 8 percent said they vaped because they’re “hooked.”

What are the risks of vaping for teens’ health?

Vaping can have serious effects on a teen’s health, now and in the future:

Continued e-cigarette use can lead to nicotine addiction. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, research shows that the earlier people begin to use drugs, the more likely they are to progress to more serious use.
Similarly, research has shown an association between nicotine vaping and progression to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
When people vape, they inhale several poisonous chemicals.

Storytellers can make a difference in teens’ understanding of the risks of vaping—and of using other drugs as well. For example, the U.S. Surgeon General reports that youth who are exposed to images of smoking in movies are more likely to smoke and those who get the most exposure to onscreen smoking are about twice as likely to begin smoking as those with the least exposure. Yet onscreen depictions of smoking have significantly increased in recent years, in both on-demand shows aimed at viewers age 15 to 24, and broadcast TV shows.

Here are some actionable insights for storytellers:

Portray the consequences of drug use on teen health and well-being.
Avoid showing characters who vape, smoke, or use other drugs as “cool.”
Mention the risks of drug use to the developing teen brain.
Address the risks of vaping marijuana and nicotine: for example, inhaling harmful chemicals, addiction, and progressing from nicotine vaping to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Avoid any imagery depicting a drug that is ready for use (i.e., a lit cigarette), as this can be a trigger for those who are addicted to drugs.
Acknowledge that most teens don’t use drugs. While the most common form of drug use among teens, vaping, has increased dramatically of late, teens’ use of other drugs has either stayed relatively stable (marijuana) or declined (alcohol, cigarettes, inhalants, etc.) in recent years. Storytellers can help deflate the myth that most teens use drugs; this, in turn, can reduce teens’ perception that “everyone else is doing it.”