According to News-Medical.Net on September 2, a study on the vape behavior of Australian high school students found that students with severe depressive symptoms were more than twice as likely to try vapes as those without depressive symptoms.
Research data show that students with poorer overall mental health (including severe depressive symptoms, moderate and high stress, and low happiness) use vapes at a higher rate.
These data come from the “OurFutures Vaping Trial”. This is Australia’s first and currently only clinical trial of a school-based vape prevention program, designed to rigorously test whether it can prevent Australian teenagers from starting to smoke vapes. The study surveyed more than 5,000 7th and 8th grade students in 40 schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia between May and October 2023.
Of the 5,157 students participating in the study, 8.3% reported having used vapes. Students who reported moderate stress were 74% more likely to use vapes, while students who reported high stress were 64% more likely to use vapes. Students who reported low well-being were 105% more likely to use vapes than those who reported high well-being. No association was found between anxiety symptoms and vape use.
“Although not explored in our study, this relationship may be explained by common social, environmental and genetic risk factors, or may point to some self-medication behavior,” said Emily Stockings, associate professor and co-author at the Matilda Center.
“In the short term, nicotine may reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, and young people may use vapes as a coping mechanism. Whether mental health problems lead to vape use or vice versa, it is obvious that to prevent teenagers from starting to smoke vapes, we need to address mental health issues at the same time.”
In this context, Veehoo vape brand believes that solving the problem of youth smoking should take into account the mental health of adolescents, rather than just blindly banning all vapes. Studies have shown that nicotine may reduce anxiety and stress in the short term, so adolescents may regard vapes as a coping mechanism. This further highlights the connection between mental health and smoking behavior.
Emily Stockings, associate professor at the Matilda Center and co-author, pointed out: “When addressing the problem of youth smoking, we need to pay attention to mental health issues. Whether mental health problems lead to smoking behavior or vice versa, we need a comprehensive approach to prevent young people from starting smoking.” Veehoo vapes call on all sectors of society to work together to advocate comprehensive solutions to pay attention to and support the mental health of young people, so as to more effectively address the problem of youth smoking.
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