Looking Cool, Doing Tricks, Managing Stress, and Nicotine Addiction: Youth Perspectives on Nicotine Vaping and Implications for Prevention

Purpose To understand the contextual and psychosocial factors associated with youth vaping in Colorado, the state with the highest youth vaping rates in 2019, and to propose strategies for prevention interventions. Design Focus groups. Setting In-person. Participants 24 youth aged 11-17, including youth who had vaped (n = 11) and who had never vaped (n = 13). Method Qualitative responses using a semi-structured focus group guide were analyzed using a matrix approach with a mixed deductive/inductive content analysis. Results Analysis revealed the highly social nature of vaping initiation and use; the use of vaping to control negative emotions; and the acquisition of vaping products through retail outlets, friends, family, and other youth who sell a variety of substances and devices to youth. Youth provided insight into how vaping is concealed from parents and teachers, and their attitudes about the health risks and benefits of vaping. Conclusion When considered with other studies, our findings suggest a universality in the youth vaping experience that is highly social. Interventions should include peer-to-peer messaging with an emphasis on changing social norms and highlighting undesirable outcomes of vaping such as negative reactions by friends and close adults, adverse effects on athletic success and future aspirations, expense, addiction, and punishment. Parent education is also recommended. Rigorous research is needed to test interventions to reverse the growing trend of youth vaping.