Even though conventional cigarette smoking has weakened over the past several decades amongst youth and young adults in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS] 2012), there has been a large change in the use of tobacco products. We are seeing youth and young adults experimenting and using the electronic cigarette(e-cigarette). Below you will see a graph that demonstrates the increase of the use of the electronic cigarette amongst youth and young adults.
Trends in ever e-cigarette use among U.S. middle and high school students; National Youth Tobacco
Survey (NYTS) 2011–2015
The fast spread of this trend was identified in a 2016 report from the US surgeon general. It refers to a 900% increase in e-cigarette use by high school students from 2011 to 2015. The 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey noted that 1.7 million high school students stated that they have used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days and 500,000 middle school students have reported using the e-cigarette. We believe that the e-cigarette is popular due to the main ingredient in the e-liquid. The e-liquid comes in a variety of flavors such as; beverages, coffees, deserts, fruits and menthols. These flavors play a huge role in attracting youth and young adults to experiment and or use. Currently there are more 7,000 plus e-cigarette flavors being marketed. These flavoring chemicals are known as “Diacetyl”. Diacetyl was found to be associated with a disease that is known as “popcorn lung.” According to the American Lung Association, using e-cigarettes or vaping, mainly flavored e-liquid can be associated with the popcorn lung disease. There have been partial studies conducted on the flavoring substances. For more information regarding popcorn lung disease please click on the following link What’s to know about popcorn lung?
We offer our Families in Action
Families in Action (FIA) is a 2-hour six-session, evidence-based curriculum where Parents and Teens interact together and learn various methods to improve communication and help families to thrive. This program contains educational videos, group discussions
