Peer Influence Drives Youth Vaping Epidemic

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Young people with friends who vape are 15 times more likely to use e-cigarettes, and more adolescents are turning to illicit cannabis products, University of Queensland research has found.

In two separate UQ-led studies, researchers have uncovered vaping trends, including a significant increase in the number of young people who don’t know what they’re inhaling.

In one study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Ph.D. candidate Jack Chung from UQ’s National Center For Youth Substance Use Research examined the types of cannabis compounds that youth aged 11–18 years old were vaping between 2021 and 2023.

“We analyzed how many teens were vaping two types of cannabis compounds, the first of which is commonly used for its psychoactive ‘high’ effects, and the second is usually used for medicinal purposes,” Chung said. “We also studied the use of lab-made synthetic cannabinoids, which can be more potent and deadly.

“We saw an increase in all products between 2021 and 2023, but it was concerning to see a rise in synthetic cannabinoids, where vaping doubled in young people aged between 11–15 years.

“Synthetic cannabinoids are particularly dangerous as they can lead to unpredictable health consequences and even death.

“It was also worrying to see more adolescents were unsure about the substances they were vaping—1.8% of teens in 2021 weren’t sure if they had vaped synthetic cannabinoids, increasing to 4.7% in 2023.”

Chung’s study analyzed data from 70,773 middle and high school students in the United States, which was captured in the country’s National Youth Tobacco Surveys.

In a separate UQ-led vaping study, published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, Ph.D. candidate Giang Vu found that peer influences were a major factor in vaping trends, while disapproval of e-cigarettes from people important to teens—such as parents—reduced the likelihood of a teen vaping by about 70%.

“We analyzed data from 20,800 American youth between 2015 and 2021 and found that while the proportion of friends who smoked declined, having friends who vaped remained concerningly common,” Vu said.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-peer-youth-vaping-epidemic.html