Vaping teens reveal why they started – and why they don’t stop

New SA research has shed light on the reasons high school vaping has become a growing headache for the state’s teachers.

Greater education is needed to stop young people from vaping, with many unaware of its harmful effects, a new survey has shown.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly asked 950 SA teenagers whether they vaped – with two in three saying they had tried it at least once.

Ms Connolly said the 13 to 19-year-olds told her there wasn’t enough education by schools and adults about the dangers of vaping.

In her report, released last week, Ms Connolly said many teenagers did not know the practice, which has become rampant among youths across SA, was illegal.

SA Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly

“Many young people are aware that vaping is ‘not good’ and they want adults to do more to prevent it, especially among younger kids,” said her report.

“Some respondents expressed a view that vaping ‘should be illegal’ and that they aren’t aware of existing laws around vaping.

“Others know that vaping is meant to be illegal but that this doesn’t appear to be the case in reality.”

Ms Connolly said questionnaires about vaping had been completed by students at state and private secondary schools across the state.

“Some young people described how vaping is more common, acceptable and normalised than smoking cigarettes,” she said.

“They highlighted how easy it is for teenagers to obtain vapes, how popular it is, and how good vaping tastes as ‘a sweet version of a cigarette’.

“They reported that vapes are ‘easier for young people to buy’, don’t leave the same smell as cigarettes and are seen as ‘not as bad due to being able to vape without nicotine’.”

Ms Connolly said some of the teens described how vaping was “huge” when it first emerged “but now it’s just a general part of life”.

A stock image of a vaping teenager.

“(Some said) people have gotten so used to it that it’s become normal,” she said.

When asked why they vaped, Ms Connolly said the most common reason given by teens was “it helps them to relieve stress, calm anxiety and depression and to concentrate, escape or relax”.

“While many respondents noted that this ‘is not ideal’ and ‘we know it’s bad’, they wanted adults to understand that they do not vape just to ‘be cool or rebellious’ but ‘because it provides temporary relief from reality’, ‘distracts us from pain’ and ‘is very useful for anxiety as the nicotine calms you’,” she said.

Ms Connolly said young people believed education “should not only help them to understand the risks and harms associated with vaping, but also equip them with practical resources and support to stop vaping with an emphasis on understanding the ‘benefits of not vaping,”.

“Such a holistic approach will have the best chance of preventing or delaying uptake in the first instance and ultimately help to minimise harm,” she said.

Asked what they wanted to be educated about at school, Ms Connolly said the survey found they wanted awareness about to be raised by providing more facts and clarifying the laws relating to vaping.

Specifically, teenagers said they wanted schools to teach young people:

ABOUT the short and long-term physical health effects

THE addictive nature of vaping

HOW easy it is to buy vapes

WHETHER it is illegal

HOW cheap it is to initially get a vape but how expensive it can be if it becomes a habit

HOW vapes are made and what’s in them

HOW vaping compares to smoking cigarettes or other drugs

WHAT to do if you want to quit or feel like you’re becoming addicted.

Ms Connolly said teens also had called for more advertisements and health warnings “like with smoking, particularly as the current focus on cigarettes makes it seem as though vaping isn’t ‘bad’ in comparison”.

Education Minister Blair Boyer discussed the survey with other state education ministers and federal Education Minister Jason Clare at a meeting in Canberra last Wednesday.

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