When electronic cigarettes were introduced to the Canadian market in 2004, they were intended to provide adults with a safer alternative to smoking. Unfortunately, e-cigarettes have multiple attributes that make them highly appealing to young people, leading to an explosive rise in adolescent vaping. Between 2011 and 2019, e-cigarette use among teens increased from 1.5% to 27.5%, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Today, an estimated one in five high school students vape regularly, whereas just five out of every 100 teens are active cigarette smokers.
Why is Vaping So Popular Among Teens?
For years, e-cigarettes were both poorly regulated and aggressively marketed to young people – many of whom believed the devices to be harmless. Vaping appeals strongly to teens because e-cigarettes feature colourful, often personalized designs that tap into adolescents’ desire to express their individuality. E-cigarettes are also discreet and easy to conceal from adults; they’re small, they don’t produce visible clouds of smoke, and many models are compatible with cellphone and computer chargers.
At the same time, e-cigarettes remove many of the unpleasant aspects of traditional tobacco consumption. Instead of producing foul-tasting, odorous smoke, these devices use “e-liquid” that’s available in hundreds of enjoyable flavours, including candy flavours. Likewise, the vapour produced by e-liquid is much less likely to stain teeth and clothing than traditional cigarette smoke. These features make e-cigarettes accessible to teens who might otherwise find smoking repulsive. In fact, many young people who begin vaping say they have never tried smoking a cigarette.
Understanding the Risks of Vaping
The use of e-cigarettes carries many immediate and long-term health risks, particularly for young people. Perhaps most concerning for parents, vaping has been linked to multiple cases of life-threatening respiratory illness in otherwise healthy teens. As of 2020, the CDC reported 2,807 confirmed cases of severe lung injury related to e-cigarette use, with 68 of those cases resulting in death. Doctors believe the solvents in e-liquid cause dangerous inflammation in the lungs, even in the absence of nicotine. Long term, the chemicals in vaping solution (many of which are carcinogenic) may contribute to cancer, heart disease, and circulatory problems.
Vaping also harms the developing brain, in part because it interferes with normal vascular function. Just one vaping session reduces blood flow in the body’s major arteries, which limits the amount of oxygen entering the brain. Over time, this reduced blood flow to the brain may interfere with a teen’s ability to concentrate and process new information. Nicotine also appears to damage the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in logical and critical thinking, memory, and reward processing.
Finally, for many teens, vaping serves as a gateway to addiction. The amount of nicotine contained in a single pod of e-liquid is often equivalent to an entire pack of cigarettes, making vaping extremely difficult to quit. Because e-liquid is more costly than traditional cigarettes, teens may take up smoking when they can no longer fund their vaping habit, thereby increasingly their exposure to carcinogens and other toxic substances. Some experts believe that vaping also acts as a “gateway drug” that makes the developing brain more susceptible to patterns of substance abuse. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, teens who use nicotine are more likely to abuse recreational drugs (such as cannabis and cocaine) than teens who don’t use nicotine.
How to Help Your Teen Quit Vaping
If you suspect your teen is vaping, remain calm and avoid harshly reprimanding him (or her). Remember that most adolescents believe vaping is harmless to their health (and up to 40% of teens aren’t even aware they’re consuming nicotine), so your child may not think he’s doing anything wrong. Look for an opportunity to discuss the topic when you and your child are both in a positive, reasonable frame of mind. Then, use the strategies below to support him in quitting:
1. Focus on education first.
Before you talk to your teen, educate yourself about the risks of vaping so you can have an effective, informative discussion. You may wish to save studies and news articles that support your points, so you can prove that your concerns aren’t unfounded.
When you talk to your teen, start by asking him what he knows about the potential harms of e-cigarette use; don’t lecture him, inundate him with information, or try to force him to stop. Let him fully explain his views without interruption, then ask permission to share what you’ve learned. If your teen is willing to listen, explain that you aren’t mad at him for making a mistake because you realize most young people haven’t been educated about vaping. Once your teen knows you’re on his side, calmly correct his misperceptions about e-cigarette use. For example, if he stated that vaping doesn’t cause cancer like smoking, inform him about the carcinogens present in e-liquid. Explain that scientists still know very little about the long-term effects of vaping, so we can’t say for sure whether or not it carries similar risks to smoking.
Before you wrap up the conversation, acknowledge how frightening this new information might be for your teen. Reassure him that you’re always there to talk to if he needs help dealing with his nicotine addiction.
2. Discuss addiction with your teen.
Most teens know addiction is unhealthy and undesirable, but they struggle to recognize addictive behaviour in themselves. As such, your next step should be outlining what addiction is, what it feels like, and why it’s so hard to quit. Ask your teen if he feels compelled to vape or if he’s aware of using vaping to manage difficult emotions, like anxiety or shyness. Explain that while using nicotine can temporarily mask negative feelings (and these positive associations reinforce addiction), it doesn’t address their root causes. Moreover, addiction raises the levels of stress hormones in the body, so it often worsens anxiety and other mental health issues over time.
You may also wish to highlight how big companies take advantage of teens by preying on their vulnerability to addiction. Mention that many vaping companies, like Juul, are headed by former cigarette industry leaders intentionally trying to get teens hooked on a new, more socially acceptable form of smoking – despite knowing the risks. Many of today’s teens are highly sensitive to injustice, so framing vaping in this light may inspire your teen to resist the habit.
3. Seek professional help.
Even if your teen sincerely wants to quit vaping, he’s unlikely to be able to stop on his own. Vaping is a serious form of nicotine addiction and teens often face significant peer pressure to maintain their habit. As such, you should research vaping addiction support services and, if possible, consult a clinician who is well versed in both addiction and adolescent psychology. If there are no support services in your local area, Truth Initiative and Ex provide helpful online resources for parents trying to help teens stop vaping.
Recovering from nicotine addiction takes time, persistence, and patience, but it’s possible with enough support. As you help your teen overcome his vaping habit, focus on success stories and emphasize the many benefits of quitting, such as improved health and more spending money. By staying positive and giving your teen realistic incentives to quit vaping, you’ll significantly improve his odds of success.
