Among 8th grade students, 7% vaped nicotine in the past 30 days in 2022, compared to 6% who used alcohol, and 5% who used cannabis. Among 10th graders, 14% vaped nicotine in the past 30 days, compared to 13.6% and 12% for alcohol and cannabis use, respectively.
Among 12th grade students, the past 30-day prevalence of nearly 21% for nicotine vaping was below alcohol use at 28% but similar to cannabis at 20%.
The results come from the Monitoring the Future study, conducted annually by a team of professors at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The study has surveyed nationally representative samples of adolescents in 8th and 10th grade since 1991 and 12th graders since 1975.
“Many people are not aware just how common nicotine vaping has become among teens,” says Richard Miech, principal investigator of the study and research professor at the Institute for Social Research. “Its use increased rapidly in 2018 and 2019, and it has stuck around since then. What began as an epidemic of teen vaping is on its way to becoming endemic.”
Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, Miech says, and exposure in adolescence can affect brain development and prime it for future substance use. While vaping has the potential to help adults quit cigarette smoking, exposing the young brain to nicotine can cause lasting, physical addiction, he says.
Further, emerging evidence suggests that e-cigarettes may come with their own health risks, such as damage to blood vessels.
Additional findings from the 2022 Monitoring the Future study focus on adolescent drug use before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and are reported on the NIDA website.
Source: University of Michigan
—
This post was previously published on FUTURITY.ORG and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock.com