Parents who smoke should know that their children are more likely to use vaping products and try smoking.
According to a large-scale study in Ireland, teenagers are 55% more likely to try electronic cigarettes than parents who do not smoke, and 51% more likely to have tried traditional cigarettes.
It also found that the percentage of those attempting to use e-cigarettes is rapidly increasing, with boys more likely to do so than girls, but the number of girls smoking is on the rise.
Dr. Jonathan Grigg, chairman of the Tobacco Control Committee of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), expressed concern over these findings, not only for Irish teenagers but for families worldwide.
We already know that children of smoking parents are more likely to smoke. This study shows that teenagers are also influenced by smoking parents, starting to use e-cigarettes and becoming addicted to nicotine," he said at a press conference on social issues.
The investigation's findings were revealed at the ERS conference held in Barcelona. Research presented at medical conferences is considered preliminary until it is published in peer-reviewed journals.
Greg, who did not participate in the study, stated that the work indicates that more and more teenagers are trying e-cigarettes, rather than using them as a smoking cessation aid.
This is important because we know that electronic cigarettes are not harmless," said Greg. "The addictive effects of nicotine are well-known, and we have found that electronic cigarettes can damage the lungs, blood vessels, and brain. We need to do more work to protect children and teenagers from these harms.
Researchers combined several data sets, including over 10,000 young people aged 17 and 18 in Ireland. The data indicates that between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of young people attempting to use e-cigarettes increased from 23% to 39%.
Around 66% of those who try electronic cigarettes say they do so out of curiosity, while about 29% say their friends use e-cigarettes. Only 3% say they use e-cigarettes to quit traditional cigarettes.
Around 68% of people reported that they had never used tobacco when they first tried vaping, compared to 32% in 2015.
We have found that more and more Irish teenagers are using e-cigarettes, which is a pattern emerging in other parts of the world," said Luke Clancy, director of the Dublin-based Tobacco Free Research Institute, which conducted the study.
People believe that e-cigarettes are a better choice than smoking, but our research suggests that this is not the case for adolescents who have not typically tried cigarettes before trying e-cigarettes," said Clancy. "This indicates that e-cigarettes are a gateway to nicotine addiction for adolescents rather than a way to quit it.
Researchers thoroughly examined data from over 3,400 16-year-old children to determine whether there are differences between boys and girls in their use of tobacco and e-cigarettes.
A study has found that approximately 39% of girls tried vaping in 2019, compared to 23% in 2015. The number of people currently using e-cigarettes has increased from about 10% in 2015 to 18% in 2019.
Especially for boys, having friends who smoke and less parental monitoring are the main factors contributing to the use of e-cigarettes.
We can see that parents and friends have an impact on teenagers' decisions to try e-cigarettes, which is significant because these are factors we can attempt to change," stated Salome Sunday, a doctoral researcher from the study. She urged governments around the world to enact anti-e-cigarette laws to protect young people.
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