Teen Vaping Use Down
By Angel Abcede on Dec. 13, 2016ANN ARBOR, Mich. – After growing to become one of the most common forms of adolescent substance use, vaping is on the decline among America’s youth, according to a new study.
The percentage of teens who vape declined in 2016, the first significant reversal since the rate skyrocketed from near-zero levels in 2011, according to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, which tracks trends in substance use among students in the 12th, 10th and eighth grades.
“Whether adolescent vaping has peaked or only paused is something we will be able to determine in the coming years,” said Richard Miech, a senior investigator in the Monitoring the Future project at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based univeristy.
Each year the national study, now in its 42nd year, surveys 40,000 to 50,000 students in about 400 public and private secondary schools in the United States.
In addition to vaping, teen use of a range of tobacco products, drugs and alcohol declined. Here’s how the numbers broke down …
Vaping
From 2015 to 2016, the percentage of adolescents who vaped in the past 30 days declined from 16% to 13% among 12th-grade students, from 14% to 11% among 10th-grade students and from 8% to 6% among eighth-grade students. Each of these declines was statistically significant, officials said in a press release.
The survey included questions on the use of vaping devices, which are battery-powered and use a heating element to produce an aerosol, or vapor, inhaled by users. The vapors come in thousands of flavors.
Commenting further on the decline, Miech of the Monitoring the Future project said, “In the past, we have seen new drugs follow a pattern in which use increases at a fast pace during a honeymoon period and then reverses course and declines as knowledge of the substance’s drawbacks become known.”
Hookahs
Hookah use among U.S. 12th-grade students also declined in 2016, the first significant drop since the survey began tracking hookah use in 2010. From 2015 to 2016, use of a hookah in the past 12 months fell by more than one third, from 20% to 13% among 12th-grade students (the survey tracked hookah use only among 12th-grade students). A hookah user breathes in through a mouthpiece attached to a rubber hose in order to inhale tobacco smoke that passes through water.
“Hookah use and vaping are two alternative-cigarette products that rank among the most commonly used among U.S. youth,” Miech said. “The decline in their use is important so that any reduction in cigarette smoking among U.S. teens is a real reduction in nicotine consumption, and not just a change from one form of nicotine use to another.”
Cigarettes
Cigarette smoking among teens in grades 12, 10 and eight continued a decadeslong decline in 2016 and reached the lowest levels recorded since annual tracking began 42 years ago. From 2015 to 2016, the percentage of youth who smoked in the past 30 days fell from 11.4% to 10.5% among 12th-grade students, from 6.3% to 4.9% among 10th-grade students and from 3.6% to 2.6% among eighth-grade students. The one-year declines in 10th and eighth grade were statistically significant, officials said.
“Since the peak year in 1997, the portion of students currently smoking has dropped by more than three-quarters – an extremely important development for the health and longevity of this generation of Americans,” said Lloyd Johnston, principle investigator in the study.
Drugs and alcohol
The use of illicit drugs and alcohol declined in almost all types of drugs in 2016, including marijuana use among eighth and 10th-grade students, and synthetic marijuana and ecstasy. Alcohol use, including binge drinking, also declined, the study showed.